Here By Accident
by FarLow
Summary: Two human friends, One a Brony, one not, find themselves transported to the land that is Equestria. The resolve to lay low and try to find a way back to their world. Will they be able to remain off the grid? Will they get back home?
1. What's this?

**Disclaimer: I do not own the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or anything created by the franchise.**

Jake sat at his desk, focusing only on the detail of the pony he was trying to animate for himself.

"Not brown enough… too brown… "He murmured to himself, "Maybe I should try a ginger instead."

"What the… I told you to go outside and play football." Said a voice behind Jake, "Aw crap, you're not seriously on My Little Pony are you? Of all the things I could imagine you to do on a computer, you happened to be doing this?"

"Shut up, Cam." Jake retorted to his best friend Cameron. "I said I'd be out in five minutes."

"That's what you said a half hour ago." Cam said. "If I did my math right, that's just a _little_ bit more than five minutes."

"Just lemme check my e-mail and I'll be out. " Jake said as he returned to the Pony Creator site. Cameron wasn't about to allow any more delays. He quickly pulled the desktops cord from the outlet. "What the hell Cam?" Jake asked. His response was to toss the football he was carrying at Jake.

"Outside. Now." Cameron ordered as he left the room.

"Yes sir." Jake grumbled sarcastically as he closed the door. Although they were both the same age of 15, Cameron usually ordered Jake around. Jake didn't mind all that much. He quickly put on his shoes, ran out of his room, and headed for the park where the neighborhood kids would play an assortment of different sports.

"Look who decided to show up!" said one of Jake's friends. Jake tried to get his mind off the MLP fan fiction he had read earlier that day.

_I never got to check my e-mail, _he thought as he was about to receive a pass from Cameron. The ball flew true right into his hands as he ran towards one end of the park. The other kids tried to tackle him, however Jake was very agile. He was surprised to see that someone actually managed to grab a hold of Jake and pin him to the ground. He felt the ball leave his grasp.

"Darn it…" he sputtered as he saw the other team take the ball. They didn't get far. Cameron went straight to the ball holder and tackled him. Cameron was far stronger than Jake could dream of being. The person holding the ball hit the ground so hard he couldn't get back up.

"Oh, walk it off." Cameron huffed as he looked over the kid. Cameron was not a Brony, and Jake knew this. It annoyed him when Cameron would make jokes about MLP without fully knowing what it was. It was labeled, in Cameron's words, "a show meant for little girls." Jake had tried showing him he was wrong, but was met only with ignorance.

An hour later the game was ended and most of the people left. Cameron went with Jake back to his house. After they arrived, Jake proceeded to plug his desktop back in.

"Where did I leave my football?" Cameron asked.

"Dunno." Jake replied, oblivious to the question as he checked his e-mail. He scrolled until something caught his eye.

"What's 'Ponify Yourself'? Why are you checking your spam?" Cameron asked.

"This isn't spam, idiot!" Jake exclaimed.

"Shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"Whatever. Open it. I want to see what this crap says." Cameron said.

"It doesn't have a sender…" Jake said confused.

"See? What did I tell you? Spam. Open it and see what it says." Cameron pestered. No sooner had Jake clicked the message had a loud, resonating BANG erupted from the computers speakers. Jakes eardrums couldn't take the strain, even with his hands over his ears.

"Turn it off!" Cameron yelled, barely audible to Jake. He reached for the sound controls and hit "mute".

"What the hell man?" Cameron yelled at Jake.

"You're the one that told me to open it!" Jake snapped back. "Now shut up so I can read the stupid thing." To his amazement there was only a blank page with the words: Click Here!

"Don't click that. It probably another sound." Cameron warned.

"Shut up, it's my computer right?" Jake said as he clicked the link.

He soon wished he hadn't.

In a flash, both Cameron and Jake found themselves being sucked into some kind of vortex that had appeared on the computer screen. Strangely, nothing except Cameron and Jake were being pulled in. Jake had braced himself on his chair while Cameron fought desperately to grab something. He managed to grab Jakes hand but was still slipping into the vortex.

"Hang on, Cam!" Jake exclaimed.

"You don't have to tell me!" Cameron replied. He was now only holding onto Jakes fingers. The force acting on both of them was too much for Jake to handle and finally, Jake lost what strength he had left. Both boys were thrown into the whirlwind and blacked out from the sheer gravitational forces. It was a long time until Cameron started to regain consciousness. He tried to move only to be met with a stabbing pain in his chest.

"Yep, that's pain. Definitely pain." He grumbled as he tried to regain his sight. He heard Jake grumble.

_Good, he's alive, _Cameron thought as he managed to prop himself upright and only to quickly fall back down. He felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness. _No, not now,_ he thought and willed himself awake.

"Ugghh…" Jake groaned as he sat upright. Something didn't feel right to him. Unlike Cameron, his eyesight came back quickly. What he saw was unbelievable. "Oh. My. God." He said with his mouth agape.

"What is it man? Spit it out." Cameron said, worried about what Jake was going to say. His sight was blurry but gradually returning.

"You're a pony! Holy crap, my friend's a pony!" Jake exclaimed. He then looked at himself. "I'm a pony!"

"Stop messing with me. Do you seriously expect me to believe…" Cameron said irritated. He looked at his hands, or rather, where his hands would be. "Son of a… What do I look like?"

"I'm not telling." Jake said. Cameron could see clearly now and saw that Jake was indeed a pony with wings, or a… the word eluded him. A Pegasus! That was it. _C'mon, why do I know that? _Jake had a ginger mane and a tan body. It looked a lot like him.

"I'm gonna punch you if you don't tell me."

"You mean 'kick'. You don't have fists." Jake snickered.

"Punch, kick, whatever. All you need to know is that you're gonna be hurting if you don't answer my question." Cameron threatened.

"My lips are sealed."

"Big mistake." Cameron started to stand up. However, when he started to walk he toppled over_. Four legs… crap_. Jake burst out laughing.

"Now I'm scared. What are you going to do now? Wuss me to death?" Jake joked.

"Shut up, you're dead once I figure this out." Cameron retorted. Luckily, there was a puddle near where Cameron was. He had tried not to believe he wasn't a pony, but there was the proof right in front of him. He had a chestnut body and black mane. It actually resembled him somewhat. No wings though. He wasn't a unicorn either, which came as a relief to Cameron.

"So what do you think?" Jake asked slyly.

"I think I'm gonna kill you." Cameron said as he jumped at Jake.

"Aw, crap." Was the last thing Jake said before he was knocked unconscious from Cameron's kick.

**End Chapter**

**A/N**

**Please R&R! This is my first story. Please tell me what you think. Chapter two in production.**

**End A/N**


	2. Making Plans

_That was unpleasant, _Jake thought as he regained consciousness. "How long was I out?" he asked Cameron.

"How should I know? Without a watch I can't figure out what time it is here." Cameron replied.

"Please don't ever kick me again." Jake said as he felt the bruise on cheek.

"Don't give me a reason to. Now down to business. What the hell are we doing here? How are we gonna get back?" Cameron asked.

"I don't know. Right now I'm just thinking God is trolling us." Jake joked as Cameron gave a serious look. "But more seriously, it definitely has to do with that e-mail."

"Then we'll just use a computer and click that e-mail again. Problem solved." Cameron said.

"Last time I checked, ponies don't have technology that is very advanced, so that rules out stealing a computer." Jake said.

"Do you have your phone?"

"Nope, everything I had in my pockets is gone." Jake said as he remembered what was in his pockets. _Great, now I want my gum._ Jake had what Cameron called an "addiction" to chewing gum. It was mostly true. He hadn't gone a single day without chewing at least one piece of gum.

"Crap. Any other ideas?"

"Just one. There are things here called unicorns-"

"I know what unicorns are. _Everyone_ knows what unicorns are." Cameron said irritated.

"Will you let me finish my freaking sentence? The unicorns here use magic. Maybe there's something they can do to help." Jake explained. "However there is a problem."

"What do mean 'a problem'? It seems pretty straightforward," Cameron said. "Step One: Get a unicorn to send us back. Simple."

"The fewer ponies that know about us, the better. Imagine it: Widespread panic because we are 'creatures from another dimension'. Soon Princess Celestia orders our deaths, or worse, sends us to the moon!" Jake exclaimed.

"First off,_ what_? Second, there's a princess. Are you kidding me? Third, and more importantly, what the hell do you mean by being sent to the moon?" Cameron questioned.

"Nothing. Forget it." Jake sighed. He realized Cameron didn't know any MLP trivia or memes. Jake would have to constantly help Cameron along and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. He suddenly got an idea. "I have an idea!"

"Don't keep me in suspense."

"Well, we can't just ask some random pony if they will help us. That means we will have to earn their trust and then ask one of them to do whatever the hell they can to help." Jake explained.

"Awesome, let's get to it."

"Hold your horses." Jake had been waiting to use that pun. He fell over laughing. After a dirty look from Cameron, he regained his composure and returned to the conversation. "Our first problem is that you have absolutely no idea how things work in Ponyville, but I'll explain it on the way into town. The next thing is that we have to get our story straight. We are from out of town, more specifically, Fillydelphia. We are visiting for an unknown amount of time."

"_Filly_delphia?" Cameron said as he rolled his eyes.

"Don't ask, just go along with it. Our most difficult problem is that we have no cutie marks."

"Cutie marks?" Cameron asked again.

"Shut up and listen. They're these little symbols that show what the pony's special talent is. It's going to look weird when two fully-grown ponies have no cutie marks."

"We can just say that we never got them, people will think it's weird but no one will be suspicious."

"That may be our only choice." Jake agreed. "Now we need to come up with names. I liked to think of the pony I was creating on my computer as Agile. Now for you… hmm."

"I don't know." Cameron said. "Wait! Facade sounds cool."

"Nice wordplay, Cam. It'll work, that's what matters. Let's head out."

"You're forgetting one tiny detail. You don't know how to fly. It'll be strange for a pony that has wings to not be able to fly."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

At that, the duo headed out of the field and started walking towards town. Both of them were getting better at walking. Along the way Jake explained that Cameron would have to make a few changes to his vocabulary.

"First off, you need to change 'everybody' to 'everypony'. This also applies to 'everyone', 'no one', or 'anyone'."

"That's stupid."

"Doesn't matter. It's what you need to say."

"Fine. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of." Jake answered.

As they approached a bridge that extended over a river towards Ponyville, Jake stopped Cameron and said in a serious tone. "If you see a pink pony, do **NOT, **under any circumstances, make eye contact or talk to it. It will save both of us a lot of trouble."

"Gotcha. Any other ponies I should worry about?"

"Not really. As long as you stay away from her, we should be fine." Jake said. "In the event that you are discovered by the pony, for whatever unfathomable reason, get me."

"What's the deal with the pink pony?"

"Imagine her as an alarm to a vault. If she is activated, all hell will break loose. She'll make a party out of thin air and invite everypony. All the ponies here in town will know who we are and… well… we don't need that kind of publicity." Jake said.

"Alright, I think I got it. Calm down dude, you're hyperventilating."

Jake just realized that his breathing was pretty fast. He turned to face Cameron but kept walking. "Sorry, just trying to make this go as smoothly as possible and…"

"Dude look out!" Cameron yelled, but it was too late. Jake walked straight into the pony known as Pinkie Pie. Jake turned around to apologize and saw who it was.

"Hello!" the pony said cheerily.

Jake stood still for a full second. _Are you freaking kidding me!_

The pony gasped then disappeared, which meant only one thing- she was planning a party for the duo.

"No, wait!" Jake yelled at Pinkie. "Darn it!"

"Smooth."

"Shut up!"

**End Chapter**

**A/N**

**I hope you enjoyed reading my second chapter. Please Review, your opinion counts!**

**End A/N**


	3. Change of Plans

"We're screwed Cam! S-C-R-E-W-D!" Jake rambled. "Oh God, its game over-"

"Calm down! It's a party, who the heck cares? Listen, if you don't get it together in the next five seconds, I'm leaving you here on your own." Cameron said. Jake immediately shut up. Jake wasn't always one to overreact, but when he got riled up he would go on for hours before he saw the bright side of a situation. The last time Cameron saw Jake this riled up was when his computer had contracted a virus.

"Okay, thanks for calming me down." Jake said. "Now, I'm open to suggestions for a new plan."

"I say we go to the party. As long as we keep as much info from them as possible we should be fine."

"It's risky. All kinds of questions could be brought up."

"It's either that or we try to build a computer to get the e-mail." Cameron said.

"Good point. Let's get moving."

Ponyville bustled with ponies. Many were buying groceries from stalls while some enjoyed deserts at a familiar bakery.

"Sugarcube Corner…" Jake muttered.

"What did you say? I was busy looking at that cake shop."

"It's called Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie, the pink pony I was talking about earlier, works there. I don't think-"

"C'mon, it's free!" Cameron said.

"What? That can't be right." Jake said. Sure enough, there was a sign on the front door that read:

"New Ponies Eat for Free!"

"Cam, the party is obviously in there. I'm pretty sure that sign wasn't always there. Look, the paint's still wet." Jake explained.

"Then let's go!" Cameron said as he pushed Jake towards the door.

_Darn your sweet tooth, Cameron. _Cameron was never one to turn down anything with sugar. On one occasion, Jake had watched him chug three cans of energy drink in less than fifteen minutes.

"SURPRISE!" screamed over three dozen ponies as the duo entered the shop. Jake managed to put up an awkward smile while Cameron was grinning from ear to ear. _Oh no, _Jake thought, _he saw the cake. _Jake had to give Cameron credit, he had good taste. The cake was nearly twice as tall as Cameron and was covered with pink and white frosting.

"I don't know if you remember me, but of course you do! We met a few minutes ago, silly. Well anyway, I knew that I never ever seen you two here in Ponyville before so I threw a big welcome party!" Pinkie said as she walked up to Jake.

"You really didn't have to-" Jake said.

"Agile," Cameron said, "this fine pony wanted to throw us a party. It would be rude not to be a part of it." Jake realized that Cameron was referring to him as Agile like he was told to. _At least he didn't forget._

"Alright, Facade, we might as well-"

"Oh, goody! I knew you would like the party, I mean, who doesn't like a party?" Pinkie said excitedly. "Everyone, this is Facade and Agile, let's give them a big Ponyville welcome!"

Immediately, the dozens of ponies started a wave of "hi"s. At that, the party began.

"So what are you two doing here in Ponyville?" asked Pinkie.

"Well, we are just traveling. You could call it a trip around all of Equestria." Jake said calmly.

"What my friend here means is that we're looking for a new home."

"Cam- Facade!" Jake exclaimed. _That's not the plan, idiot!_

"Really? That is sooo great!You came to the right place!"

"May I talk to Facade for a second, Pinkie? Alone?" Jake asked.

"Sure thing!" Pinkie said as she bounced away.

"What the hell are you thinking Cam?" Jake whispered

"I'm thinking of abandoning the plan. You made coming to the party sound so much worse than it is. For God's sake, there's a _cake_! Cake I tell you."

Jake thought about it. The other ponies weren't suspicious of them being creatures from another dimension. _Maybe I was overreacting._

"Well, hello there sugarcube!" Jake heard a voice with a familiar accent from behind.

"H-hello, Applejack." Jake stammered.

"That's strange, I didn't tell ya my name." Applejack looked at me quizzically.

"Uh, Pinkie already told me about you and your friends." Jake answered quickly.

"All right then, Agile, where are you from?"

"Fillydelphia.

"What brought you here to Ponyville?"

"Facade and I wanted a change of scenery. We started traveling around Equestria to find a nice home. Unfortunately, we used up all of our money getting here which means we will be settling down here."

"That's fantastic." Applejack said smiling. "If you're looking for a place to stay, you're more than welcome to stay at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Thanks for the offer. I'll have to talk with my friend, but I'll be sure to let you know." Jake said as he walked away to look for Cameron. He found him eating a piece of cake. By the looks of the frosting on his mouth, it wasn't his first piece.

"Hey, Agile." Cameron said.

"Facade, I just scored us a place to stay."

"Great job. See? You were overreacting." Cameron said as he returned to his cake.

"Glad to see you're enjoying yourself."

"Hey, if it wasn't for the cake I would still be pissed that were in this mess in the first place."

"Seriously, cake will affect your mood that much?" Jake said in disbelief.

"Yup."

Jake walked back over to Applejack. "We would be very grateful if you let us stay at your apple farm."

"Don't you worry yourself, we have plenty of room in the barn."

"Thanks again. I'll head over there now to check it out." Jake said as he started walking away. He was not a person that particularly enjoyed parties.

"Hey, wait up!" said a voice from behind him. He immediately recognized it as Rainbow Dash.

"Yes?" He said cautiously.

"Why don't you have your cutie marks? You're a full grown pony."

"Well, I never got it. I never did anything that I ever found to be my special talent. I'd really like if I didn't talk about it." Jake said, carefully putting the words together. _Not too much, not too little._

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. So, what do you do here in Ponyville?" Jake said. Jake listened through Rainbow Dash's _entire _description of her job and about how "awesome" it was and its importance. Jake lost interest after a half hour.

After the party, Applejack brought the friends to the barn at her farm. "By the time she left, Cameron had a sugar crash and passed out instantly. Jake sat thinking about his first day in Ponyville. It was ironic. Cameron wasn't a Brony yet was having a better time in this world than Jake was. _Since when did I get so serious? _The day had left him stressed. Before he fell asleep, he promised to himself that he would be less uptight from then on.

**A/N**

**Chapter 4 in Production. Please R&R!**

**End A/N**


	4. Change of Plans (Again)

Cameron woke up in his bed of hay. _That's the fourth time I've woken up. _The sugar rush Cameron had felt at the party faded into a horrible pain in his head and stomach. _At least it's morning. _All of a sudden, a noise, similar to that of a car starting up, resounded in the barn. _He snores here too? _Cameron walked up casually to Jake and yelled, "Morning, sunshine!"

"Aaaahh!" Jake shrieked as he fell off of his mound of hay. "What the hell was that for?"

"You were snoring again. I'm sure everyone in town heard it. Besides, I'm bored."

"If you're bored take a walk and let me sleep, Cam." Jake said as returned to his bed.

"Yeah, I'm sure a walk will be less boring. Maybe I should go paint something while I'm at it." Cameron said sarcastically.

"Figure it out yourself." Jake huffed. He suddenly found his bed uncomfortable. _Crap, I moved from the comfy spot. _Just as Cameron was about to leave, Jake grumbled, "Now I can't go back to sleep, I hope you're happy."

"I'm overjoyed. Let's go."

The walk went on for an awkward five minutes until Cameron said. "Do you think we should get jobs? We can't mooch off these guys forever."

"I was thinking the same thing. Do you happen to have any ideas?"

"Dinky…err… Pinky Pie told me that I could work at her bakery."

"You'll be like a kid in a candy store." Jake joked. "However, you're gonna have to go at it alone."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want to be there when you crash and burn at the interview."

"You think you can do better?

"Not at that job. I have zero talent for cooking. Maybe I'll work at the library."

"Nerd."

"Idiot. I have a better shot a job than you do."

"You know what? I bet that I will get the job and when I get my first pay, I'm giving none of it to you."

"Game on."

At that, both friends ran off to their possible jobs. After a few minutes of wandering, Jake realized he had no idea where he was going. He headed back to Sweet Apple Acres to ask Applejack where the library was.

"Hey Applejack!"

"What do ya need sugarcube?"

"I was wondering where Twilight's library was."

"Who's Twilight?" Applejack said.

_Oh, crap. _Jake quickly recovered from his shock. "Um nopony, I was thinking about something else. What I actually wanted to know was how far away the Summer Sun Celebration is."

"It's two weeks away. The Apple family is having their reunion here so we'll have the extra pony power to get the food ready."

"Great thanks." Jake said as he darted off to town to look for Cameron. _Holy crap, how did I not realize this earlier? _He didn't remember seeing Twilight at the party. For that matter he didn't see Rarity or Fluttershy there either. _How did I not realize that they weren't there?_

Jake found Sugarcube Corner and walked inside. He was greeted with a mocking voice.

"I win." Cameron said smirking.

"We have a bigger problem at the moment Facade. I need to talk to you. In private."

"Fine, geez. Rain on my parade why don't you?" Cameron muttered as they walked into the kitchen.

"Will you shut up and listen to me? We have a new problem. Twilight isn't here."

"Who?"

"She's one of the main six characters on the show. We arrived here at the time right before she came to Ponyville."

"I don't see the problem."

"Well, when you were getting your job, I was thinking of ways to get us back. The whole library thing made me think of Twilight Sparkle, and then I thought about the Princess and how she's basically the most powerful Magic user here. Without Twilight, we can't get in contact with the Princess."

Cameron thumped him on the head. "Idiot! You didn't think of this earlier?"

"It wouldn't have mattered if I had thought of it earlier." Jake said as he returned the thump.

"So, what now?"

"I guess we wait for the Summer Sun Celebration to start."

"And when exactly is that?"

"Two weeks from now."

"What!" Cameron gasped. "Dude, I can'tlast two weeks here."

"You were doing just fine yesterday."

"Because there was cake! I need civilization. I need my XBOX! I need to play Call of Duty!"

"Calm the hell down! Think of this time here as a vacation from all that."

"A horrid, forced vacation." Cameron mumbled.

"So how's the job?" Jake said, trying to change the subject.

"Fine. It was weird. The apron was already on a hook with my name on it when I got here."

"Wow, talk about no qualifications needed."

"Right? Pinkie ran me through the whole process of making cupcakes and told me to bake a couple for her to taste."

"And? Do you want to tell me what happened, or should I start guessing?"

"Apparently, she loved them. I actually have a talent for cooking."

"Correction. You have a talent for cooking_ cupcakes_."

"I'm sure I'll be cooking omelets in no time." Cameron smirked.

"Oh get real!"

"Whatever. The bet still stands. You get none of my money today. Enjoy starving."

"Fine. I'm going to find something to do."

"Why don't you learn how to fly? I mean it's sad that you don't know how."

"Shut up, I'll do it."

At that, Jake departed for an area where no one would see him fail miserably. He decided on the barn. Not too spacious, but defiantly private. Surprisingly, on his first try, Jake had amazing results. He had no difficulty getting off the ground and into the air. He could move forward and backward, turn, and land. _Pure skill._ He decided to take it up a notch. He left the barn and headed over to the field that he and Cameron had arrived on. He smiled when he found that he was actually fast at flying. He found it to be as easy as it was for him to run back home.

He laughed as he flew back to Sugarcube Corner to rub his new found skill in his friend's face.

**A/N**

**Chapter 4! Review and tell me what you think!**

**End A/N**


	5. SonicDash?

_Alright, I have to make sure this batch is perfect. _Cameron immediately facehoofed after thinking that. _I'm concerned about cupcakes. When did I become crazy?_ Cameron was so busy talking to himself he hadn't noticed Jake sneak up behind him. Jake snickered to himself before smacking Cade upside the head.

"Ow! What the- Jake!"

"Calm down. Consider us even."

"We're more than even, Bucko." Cameron sneered as he opened the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink. He held up a large bag and tossed it at Jake's feet. It jingled as it hit the ground. Jake peered inside, and found hundreds of Bits, or Equestrian currency.

"Wha-?"

"That's gold." Cameron said smiling.

"You don't say? How the hell did you get all of this?"

"Apparently, Pinkie is freaking loaded. She just gave this to me and said 'Keep up the good work!'" Cameron said. "When I felt bad for taking this, she showed me her safe. Dude, you think this is a lot, take a look inside her safe. It redefines the word 'amazing'."

"This is awesome, we can buy things!"

"Yeah, that's what money is usually used for."

"Shut up, I mean that we can buy a house and not have to sleep on a pile of hay."

"Hold up, you're forgetting one crucial detail." Cameron said smugly. "Our bet is still in effect."

"You have to be kidding me!"

"I'm dead serious. Next time you'll think twice before underestimating me."

"Not a chance. You got lucky this time."

"Whatever. We going or what?"

"After you, your majesty." Jake said sarcastically.

Cameron hung his apron and yelled he was clocking out to Pinkie. On the way to the apartment complex, Cameron asked "So, what did you do today?"

"Um, I learned how to fly."

"That's cool." Cameron said. "But it's not a bag-full-of-gold-coins kind of cool."

"First off, they're called Bits, get your facts straight. Second, you got lucky. Don't push it."

"Fine, fine."

After a few more minutes of walking they had arrived at the apartment. They walked up to the pony standing behind the counter.

"Uh, can we rent out a room please?" Jake asked.

"Of course. The rent is 120 bits per month."

"No problem." Cameron said as he dumped a large amount of coins on the counter. The pony's face immediately lit up.

"M-may I ask how long you're going to be staying?"

"To tell the truth, we're not sure. Keep the change." Jake said. The friends headed up to their new room. It took Cameron a full five seconds to find something he didn't like.

"There's no TV!"

"I explained this to you earlier, Cam! There is no TV, video games, or computers! Nothing. Nada. Zero."

"OK I get it." Cameron said. His eyes then found the bed. "Oh my God! It's a bed! An actual bed!" he exclaimed as he laid on it. "I'd almost forgotten what one felt like."

"You've gone without a bed for _one_ night! How the heck could you forget?"

"It doesn't feel like a thousand midgets stabbing you with swords!"

"Is that seriously what you thought hay felt like?"

Cameron's glee faded quickly. "I'm bored again."

"What are you, four? Go outside and do something."

"Why don't you show me your new flying skills?"

"That's actually a good idea, Cam. Probably your first one all day."

Cameron ignored the insult. "Let's go."

When they reached the field, Cameron said "Don't suck."

"Thanks for the encouragement." Jake replied. At that, Jake took off. A _Wow, I'm even faster than before._

"Holy-", Cameron said, his mouth agape. It took Jake a total of three seconds to circle the entire field.

"How was that?" Jake asked, landing exactly where he had started.

"Dude, you're faster than an airplane! Maybe even as fast as one of those fighter jets!"

"Really?" Jake hadn't felt fast.

"No doubt. Wait. I have an amazing idea." Cameron said with a sudden smile. "Try to make a sonic boom, like those jet planes."

"Dude, that's like over a thousand miles per hour! There is no way in hell that I'm that fast."

"If you at least try, I'll forget about the bet. However, if I think you're not trying your hardest, enjoy sleeping on hay for tonight."

_What the hell? Might as well try._

"Fine Cam. I'll try. When I crash and die, you're not coming to my funeral." Jake said.

Cameron scoffed. "It would be way too boring if I did attend."

"Screw you." Jake said in a huff as he flew straight up. Once he thought he had enough distance between himself and the ground, Jake dived straight down. The wind stung his eyes, so he closed them.

_I'm going to die. Why did I let Cam talk me into this?_

On the ground, Cameron was looking at Jake go straight down. _He's even faster than before! _He watched as Jake gained speed until it finally happened. A resounding BOOM filled the field. _Holy crap! _Cameron looked toward the town. _I bet they heard it there too._

In fact, ponies had heard the sonic boom all the way in town. Rainbow Dash had been napping on her cloud when the sound wave caused her to fall off. She awoke instantly and caught herself. _What in Celestia's name was that? _Could have been a Sonic Rainboom? _No, there aren't any rainbow colors in sight. Besides, I'm the only one who can do one. _Regardless, she flew straight in the direction that the Rainboom had come from.

When she arrived at the fields, she was surprised to find an brown Earth pony cheering up towards the sky. Dash looked up to see a tan and ginger colored pegasus flying down looking smug. She recognized both of them as Agile and Facade from the party Pinkie had held.

"What do you think of that?" Agile asked Facade.

"It was freaking amazing, dude! I knew you were a fast runner, but holy crap! I didn't think you had it in you."

"Shut up. Now the bet's off and I can relax in our new apartment."

"You earned it, but don't get cocky. Next time I'll ask you to travel through space-time."

"Cam, you know as well as I do that that's impossible."

"A lot of things are impossible but," Facade gestured to himself and then at Agile. "here we are as ponies."

_What does that mean? _Rainbow thought to herself. Agile suddenly noticed Rainbow.

"Oh crap. Play it cool, dude." He whispered.

"What?" Facade said as he turned around. "Oh, uh, hi."

"What are you two doing out here?"Rainbow questioned.

"Um, you know. Normal things." Facade answered as Agile clunked him on the head.

"What he means is that we were just out here walking and talking."

"That's not what I think." Rainbow said smugly as she circled the duo. "Don't you thinks it's a little strange that everypony in Ponyville heard a Sonic Rainboom coming from this exact spot and you two just happen to be here?"

"Uh, nope." Facade said.

"Agile, I have to say, when I first met you, I thought you were a little weird. But I have to say, that. Was. Awesome!" Dash squealed.

"C-come again?" Agile stammered.

"I mean the Sonic Rainboom you made! I thought I was the only pony in all of Equestria that could do it! You have speed, and I like speed."

Jake was getting uncomfortable. Dash was really close now and getting even closer. He felt himself get red in the cheeks. Cameron was of no help by just watching. All he could think about was the "wing boner" meme.

_Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! I need to get out of here! _

"It was nice to see you again Rainbow, but I'm afraid we need to leave." Agile quickly said as he and Facade started to make a break for it. Rainbow easily cut them off.

"Oh no you don't. Look, the Summer Sun celebration is coming up soon and I would really like it if you would help out the weather ponies, including myself, in clearing the skies."

"You mean like a job?"

"If you do a good job, then yes."

"Sure thing. Now if you'll excuse me, we must be leaving." Agile said as he looked around for Facade. He was already gone. Agile took off as fast towards town.

_He's a little crazy. _Rainbow thought. _I like a little crazy._

**A/N**

**Hello readers! I'm sorry this chapter came in a little late today. You can blame a combination of Writer's Block and pure procrastination. I promise to be more punctual in the future. As always, read and review!**

**End A/N**


	6. Training and Dinner

Jake slammed the door to the apartment room as soon as he got in. "What the hell Cam? You just left me there by myself! You don't just leave someone when they need help."

"Oh, come on. You didn't need me there. Besides, you look like you were able to save yourself." Cameron said calmly. "Here, have a piece of the cake I bought."

"You left me in a horribly awkward situation just to buy a cake?"

"Yep."

"Screw you." Jake said as he took a piece. "Anyway, I got a job now, err, at least I think I do."

"What is it?"

"Well, after you abandoned me, Rainbow Dash asked me to help the other weather ponies with the celebration they're having in few weeks. If I do well enough, I'll get a permanent job as a weather pony."

"Don't mess this up." Cameron said seriously.

"You know, I was just thinking of messing up horribly. Thanks for the tip." Jake joked.

"Whatever. After I finish this cake I'm going to bed."

Jake realized that it was getting dark. "You don't seriously expect me to believe that right after you finish an _entire _cake, you're going to fall asleep?"

"You know it."

"Good luck with that." Jake said. _To be honest, I think he might actually be able to do it. _

**The Next Morning…**

Jake instantly awoke to the feeling of being shaken by someone. He opened his eyes and saw that it was Rainbow Dash.

"Aaa!" he yelped, "How did you get in my room?"

"Facade let me in." Rainbow replied coolly. "Anyway, it's time to get started!"

"On what?" Jake asked.

"On your training for the Summer Sun Celebration."

Jake would have liked nothing more than to lie back onto his bed and fall asleep.

"Come on, lazy bones." Dash said as she pulled him out of bed. Jake hit the ground in a painful THUMP.

"Fine, I'm coming."

It took the two of them ten seconds to reach their destination, a large mass of clouds overhead of a small lake.

"Alright. First part of your training is to learn how to make clouds rain."

"Okay then." Jake said as he flew on top of the nearest cloud. "So I just hop on it, right?"

"See for yourself." Rainbow said smiling.

Jake had seen Rainbow Dash perform this feat on the TV show. All she did was hop on it.

_Straight forward enough._

However, Jake's first attempt was met with failure, as no water came out. He tried to jump on it a little harder and fell straight through the cloud.

_I guess I'm going to have to do a "medium" kind of jump._

Jake tried and failed multiple times before he finally was able to get a small amount of water.

"Now hop faster." Rainbow ordered.

"Easier said than done." Jake muttered. He tried for minutes and finally found a balance between speed and power. "I did it!"

"It took you long enough." Rainbow said as she rolled her eyes.

"What's next?"

The next few hours were spent on various things such as chasing down clouds and causing lightning. Jake surprisingly was not tired in the slightest.

"Well, that is just about it." Rainbow said.

"Great, I was getting bored."

"You're full of it."

"No, I'm just that awesome." Jake retorted smugly.

"I bet you're not awesome enough to beat me in a race."

_Oh, it is on now_, Jake thought, for no person, or pony for that matter, could ever beat him in a straight forward race. "You're on."

"Race you to Sugarcube Corner on the count of three." Rainbow said. "One…"

_I got this, _Jake thought, _no one's faster than me. Not back home or here._

"Twothree!" Rainbow said quickly, catching Jake off guard. She zoomed off towards town.

"Cheater!" Jake said angrily. He caught up with Dash rather fast. She noticed him from the corner of her eye and tried to gain speed. However, Jake was closing in fast. _I am not going to lose to you. _Rainbow thought.

"Cheaters never prosper!" Jake yelled as he zoomed past. He landed at the doorstep of Sugarcube Corner a solid two seconds before Rainbow Dash.

"I lost…" she whispered.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Jake said. He actually felt sorry for her. An idea popped inside of his head.

"Give me a rematch!"

"Maybe later. I need to check up on Facade." Jake said calmly as he walked inside.

Business was booming. Word had spread across town of the new cupcake creations Cameron was making. In truth, he had no idea what he was doing that made them so special. After some struggling, Jake managed to get to the kitchen.

"Wow. How's it going, Iron Chef?" Jake joked.

"Fine. Leave me alone. I'm busy." He said as he closed an oven door.

"Dude, I need some money."

"You sound like one of those homeless guys.'

"Whatever, what I'm trying to say is that I want money to take Rainbow out for dinner."

"Dude, you're not seriously in love with a pony are you? Next thing I know, you want to date my goldfish."

"Shut up! That's not what I meant!" Jake exclaimed. He felt his face get red.

"What did you mean?"

"I beat her in a race and she's either sad, mad, or a combination of the two."

Cameron scoffed. "You never could stand the fact that not everyone likes you."

"It's a lesson I'm learning the hard way. Now, hand me some cash."

"There's some under the cabinet. Get it and get out."

"Thanks, I'll pay you back."

Jake left the building and searched around town for Rainbow Dash. _If I was Rainbow Dash, where would I be?_ The obvious answer was napping. Jake took off for the clouds and stumbled across Dash on a small cloud.

"Hey Rainbow-"

"What do you want, Agile?"

"I was just wondering if you would want to have dinner with me." Jake said. He didn't expect her to say yes. He knew she hated losing.

"Ohmygoshohmygosh! Yes!" she exclaimed as she zoomed up to Jake.

"Uh, ok. I'll go and rent out Sugarcube Corner…" Jake said. He realized that after he mentioned the place, Rainbow Dash had zoomed towards her house.

_I'm guessing that went over well with her._

**A/N**

**Procrastination is defiantly one of my weaknesses. I promise to be more punctual in the future. Please Read and Review! **

**End A/N**


	7. Unexpected Arrival

Jake flew back to Sugarcube Corner. As he beat his wings casually, he took notice that it was void of life, quite completely. As he walked inside, he saw the decorum had changed dramatically. Instead of the usually bright and overly cheery look, the lights had been dimmed to a more romantic level. Inside stood one table set for two.

"Like it?" Cameron asked with a smirk.

"How did you- You know what, never mind. You cleared the entire place?"

"Yep. Pinkie set everything up in less than a minute. It was quite a sight to see."Cameron said.

Jake turned his head around in each direction."Crap, how many customers did you have to turn away?"

"A lot. That's why you can't mess up." Cameron said as he turned back to the kitchen.

"You didn't have to do this." Jake said.

Cameron stopped. "Look, a real friend helps with his friend's love life. No matter how weird the love is."

"This doesn't have to do with love, idiot!" Jake said as his face was over run with a deep crimson color.

"Right. Whatever you say, dude." Cameron said with a grin. Cameron looked behind Jake and pointed. "Your date's here."

Jake perked up, forced away his blush, and turned around to a smiling Rainbow Dash. "Um, hi."

"Good luck." Cameron whispered before departing.

"So, uh, let's sit down." Jake said nervously. _This is going to be a long night, _he thought.

**Back at their apartment…**

"What do you mean, you don't have any spare keys?" Cameron inquired to the owner of the apartment.

"It is a simple as that. We don't make multiple keys for rooms." he answered.

Cameron had realized only seconds earlier that Jake was the one with the room's key. _I'm not going all the way back there to get them. Too much work. _He Decided

"Fine." Cameron said in a huff. "I'll just walk around and wait for my friend."

The next few minutes were possibly some of the most boring of Cameron's life. _Ugh, I'm bored. Bored, bored, bored. _He passed Sugarcube Corner and stood there for a few seconds trying to decide if he should go in. _One does not simply walk in on a date. _He finally decided to walk by the field where they had arrived in Ponyville. Cameron suddenly realized how large it really was. Behind it laid a concentrated amount of trees, suggesting a forest. He would explore the forest at a later date. For the moment though, he was far too concerned on his excitement levels.

"Screw it," Cameron said with a determined look, "I'm getting those keys."

On his way back to the gingerbread house designed building, Cameron noticed a small stand of apples on the path. It took him a moment to realize that it was operated by the pony that let them spend the night on their first day in Ponyville. _Might as well say hi, _he walked casually to the stand.

"Hello, Applejack was it?" Cameron said. Applejack just seemed to have noticed him, and turned her head.

"Yep! Nice ta see ya again, Facade."

"Same here. How much are your apples?" he asked

"Two bits, please."

Cameron quickly got out the money and gripped the first apple he saw. He took a single bite from the apple, and widened his eyes. He immediately congratulated her on the amazing apples and munched on it happily as he departed. Applejack smiled and thanked him for his business and said goodbye. He didn't get far before a he voice heard a voice behind him.

"Holy shit! Cam is that you?"

Cameron turned and gasped.

**Back at Sugarcube Corner…**

The date was defiantly going smoothly. It turned out that Rainbow Dash and Jake had a lot in common. Some things were obvious, like how they were both fast and how they hated losing. Some things were more subtle, so subtle they didn't even know it. Jake had lost the awkwardness he had felt at the beginning of the date, and was sure Dash felt the same way. Pinkie had made each of them cake, much to Jake's disappointment. _I'm going to over dose on cake someday, _He thought.

Jake decided to ask a question he knew Rainbow would love to answer. "So, what do you think of the Wonderbolts?"

Rainbow's eyes widened. She was about to unleash the full force of her answer, when Cameron burst through the door. They both turned their heads.

"Agile, get out here!" he commanded.

"Doesn't it look like I'm busy?" Jake asked the obvious question.

"This is really important. Outside. Now." Cameron ordered.

Jake turned to Rainbow Dash. "I'm sorry. I'll see what's going on, and be right back."

"Sure thing." Rainbow said, trying to seem nonchalant. Jake knew she couldn't wait to tell him how awesome the Wonderbolts were.

Jake went outside and scolded Cameron. "What the heck is so important that you have to get me out of a date?"

"So you _do _admit it's a date."

"Shut up." Jake said. "Answer the freaking question."

"Hey, get over here." Cameron called to a unicorn who, until now, had gone unnoticed by Jake. The pony was a light sandy brown and had a dirty blonde mane. What really caught Jake off guard were the pony's deep green eyes.

"Holy crap! Is that Mike?"

"I sure am." The pony answered. Mike was, along with Cameron, his best friend. He usually played sports along with the other boys in the neighborhood. He was what some would call: a smart Aleck.

"What did- How did you-?"

"Calm yourself, I'll explain. Remember two days ago when we were all playing football. You know, when you creamed us? Well, after you two left, I realized I still had Jake's iPod. So, I went over to his house to return it."

"Wait, what the heck were you doing with my iPod?"

"That's not important right now. As I was saying, when I got to Jake's house, I realized that neither of you were there. The strange thing was, you were still logged onto your e-mail account."

"You went on my e-mail?"

"Can I finish? I saw the message with the subject 'Ponify Yourself' and decided to click it. Well, you know what happened. Next thing I know, I'm a freaking unicorn. I thought it was a dream. I thought that you guys ambushed me and knocked me out, but after a couple minutes, it was just as real as before. So, I did the only thing an intelligent person would do. I fell asleep. Next morning, I see a big line for some restaurant. I was pretty hungry around that time, so I decided to see what the commotion was about. When I took a look inside, I saw a pony, which looked a lot like Cameron, making cupcakes. Of course, it was only a hunch until Jake walked in and you both started arguing about money. You two are the only people I know that bicker like that. I decided to watch you guys and see if you were, you know, actually you."

"Stalker." Cameron joked.

"Why don't you just bake a few cupcakes, Cam? Anyway, I saw Jake's freaking sonic boom." Mike said as he looked at Jake. "It was awesome, dude."

"Thanks." Jake replied.

"Well, you can imagine how bored I was, so I snuck into your room and stole some cash."

"How the heck did you get into our room? It's on the third floor and has a lock." Jake questioned.

Mike gestured to his horn. "Magic, duh."

"You actually know that unicorns use magic?" Jake asked.

"Well, uh, yeah. That is… I mean…" Mike stammered.

_Checkmate, _Jake thought, _He's a closet Brony._

"You're a Brony." Jake said with a smug smile. Mike merely looked at the ground.

"Yes…" he muttered.

"How did I not know you were a Brony? You would think any Brony could find another one easily."

"Let's get off the subject, shall we? I took your money and I got myself a room next to yours. This morning, I couldn't get to either of you since you were both busy at your jobs. I spent the day roaming around and doing random crap. I saw Cameron a little later, and you know the rest."

The three friends stood silent for a few awkward seconds.

"Well, it was good seeing you, Mike. Unfortunately, you did not come at the best of timing. I need to get back to my date. Also, try think of a new name while I'm gone."

"No problem."

Jake returned to Sugarcube Corner and casually sat down.

"You were gone for a while." Rainbow said.

"Oh, I was just catching up with an old friend. Now, back to the Wonderbolt question." and so, jake set off the explosion.

The rest of the night went smoothly. After they had their fill of cake, the two said good night to each other.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Jake said to Rainbow.

"Don't forget about that race you promised me."

"I won't." Jake replied as he flew back towards his apartment. He felt refreshed, and a bit thankful for rest. He really needed to think about things. If Mike made it here, could others have too? _Whatever, I'll think about it in the morning. Things are defiantly getting interesting, _he thought.

**A/N**

**Shout out to EpicBrony for detail editing! As always, Read and Review!**

**End A/N**


	8. Names and A Will of Magic

As he opened the maple crafted door, Jake immediately heard the conversation Mike and Cameron were having. While listening, he scanned his room. The two beds were neatly made. There was a lamp on a table in the middle of the beds. It was on because there was no light coming from window across the room. There was also a dresser across from the beds.

"There is no way in hell I'm calling myself Mr. _Brony,_" Mike said.

"Come on, you need a new name and this one suits you perfectly!" Cameron said with excitement.

"In what way?"

"You're a brony and. . . Well, that's just about it," Cameron replied.

"Idiot," Mike accused.

"Calm down you two," Jake ordered. "Cam, we're not calling Mike Mr. Brony. Think of something else."

"I've got nothing," Cameron said almost immediately.

"Dude, what the hell! I said think," Jake said. Cameron looked blankly at Jake.

"Eh, whatever. You should do the thinking," he said Jake sighed.

"I need something cool, like Ace or Dynamo," Mike said with a sparkle in his eye.

"Give me a break," Cameron said as he rolled his eyes.

"Look, it's just a name. Keep it simple," Jake ordered.

"Keen," Cameron suggested.

"Like it," Jake said. "Is that fine with you, Mike?"

"Yeah, it actually sounds good," Mike sounded surprised.

"Alright then. Onto a different subject," Jake said as he turned to Mike. "How the heck do you know how to use magic?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. It's actually rather easy. Allow me to demonstrate," Mike said as used magic to bring one of Cameron's white, perfectly cream colored frosted cupcakes to his mouth. He bit into it with delight.

"Dude, you've been a unicorn for a couple of days and you already can use magic. That's kinda weird," Cameron accused.

"I dunno. I just kind of will something to happen and it happens," Mike shrugged.

"Wait. . . something doesn't make sense," Jake pointed out.

"What do you mean?" Mike inquired.

"You've seen the show, Mike. You know that unicorns can only do certain types of things with their magic. So far, you can levitate stuff and you can pick a lock. What else can you do?"

"I have no idea. What should I try?" Mike asked.

"Teleportation sounds cool. That's magic, right?" Cameron suggested.

"That's not such a bad idea," Mike said. Immediately after he said this, he disappeared. After a few seconds he reappeared with an apple. "Yep, I can teleport,"

"Where'd you go?" Cameron asked.

"Sweet Apple Acres. Anymore magic suggestions?" he answered as he bit into the apple.

"Hmmm. Can you shrink this chair?" Cameron suggested.

"Why the heck do you want me to shrink a chair? How does that help anyone?"

"Maybe you could make things larger. Like that cupcake you didn't finish eating." Cameron said.

"A big cupcake is just a regular cake, Cam." Jake silently laughed at Cameron's idea.

"Just do it." Cameron said flatly.

"Fine." Mike's horn started to glow crimson. After a few seconds, the cupcake had been enlarged to the size of a regular cake.

"Sweet." Cameron said with a smile, and a twinkle in his eyes.

"Alright, I think we all know now that I can do a lot of stuff." Cameron started to drool as he stared at the beautiful cupcake, cake, whatever.

"Yeah, It's getting late. I'm going to bed. "Jake declared. Mike started to leave for his room when Cameron spoke up.

"Hold up. Mike still needs a job."

"What for?" Mike asked.

"You're not gonna keep taking my hard earned cash, Mike. Find your own source of income."

"Where?"

"Figure. It. Out." Cameron said before he shut the door. Jake shook his head, and got in his covers.

"Night'" he said as he turned out the lights.

**The next morning…**

Mike knocked on his friends' door and received no response.

_They must have already left for work. Maybe I _should _get a job._

Mike was not what one to be called a hard worker. Things naturally came easy to him and anything that required him to exert himself in anyway was not something Mike wanted to do. He tried to think of a job that required little to no work.

He walked aimlessly around Ponyville. He really had no intention to take in the views or any of that stuff. After wandering for a couple of minutes, he stopped at a familiar boutique. He noticed that on the window was a "Help Wanted" poster.

_Might as well see what it's about._

As he walked in, he noticed a pure white pony with a stylish deep purple mane at the front desk sleeping. He could tell from the large amount of fabric, needles, gems, and thread that she had been busy. After a few minutes, it was apparent that she wasn't waking up anytime soon. So, he walked up and gently tapped her on the shoulder. He received no response. He tried once more, but had the same outcome. _Sure is a heavy sleeper. _He decided to ring the bell, which instantly woke Rarity.

"Wha- oh! Hello, may I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm just here to ask about the job opening."

"Oh, of course. As you can tell by the mess, I use a large amount of various, and shall I say _gorgeous _gemstones in my work. I am able to find these gems with my magic, but it takes work to get the gems out of the ground."

_Aw crap. Work._

Rarity could see Mike cringe at the mention of the word work, so she quickly added "I pay in gems."

Mike perked up at the word gems. He had a weakness for shiny things. He had once gone under a bus because there was something gleaming under it. It had turned out to be a piece of aluminum foil.

"I'll do it!" he said enthusiastically.

"What is your name?"

"Keen. My name is Keen."

**Meanwhile…**

Jake waited for Rainbow dash to get to the cloud he just landed on. He had beaten Rainbow dash in yet another race. Jake was getting bored. The seemingly endless number of races Rainbow Dash had challenged him to ended in the same way, him winning. Rainbow was beyond the point of friendly competition. He could tell that she was fed up with losing, but she just wouldn't give up.

"Maybe we should take a break." He said after their twenty-sixth race.

"Why? Are you getting tired?" Rainbow said, panting.

_No, but you sure are._

Jake didn't want Rainbow to die from overworking, so he simply nodded.

"I don't get it." Rainbow said suddenly after a few minutes of silence.

"Hmm?"

"You don't have your cutie mark and it's obvious that your talent is flying. I just don't get it."

Jake pondered on that for a while. Why didn't he have his cutie mark? It was true. He flew extremely fast. However, it didn't feel to him like it was his talent. He felt it was too simple to make a sonic boom.

_I mean, I just fly straight down. It's not rocket science. I need something a bit more… impossible._

An idea appeared in his mind and he smiled. Rainbow noticed him smiling and asked, "What is it?"

"You'll see." he answered.

**A/N**

**Hello everypony. I have some bad news. If you are reading this in the future, this does not apply to you.**

**I will be gone (starting this Saturday) for an entire week.**

**I know, you're heartbroken.**

**However! All is not lost. Starting tomorrow, I will try to make up for lost time by sending out two chapters a day. However, this is set to change if something comes up.**

**Again, special thanks to EpicBrony for editing. Check out his profile!**

**End A/N**


	9. What do these marks mean?

Mike lay down, exhausted. In truth, he had been working for little over an hour. It wasn't the work that was exhausting him. It was, in fact, the tediousness of lifting dirt with magic that was causing him to quickly lose interest with his new job. He quickly became bored and wondered when the day would end. He desperately tried to think of a way to reduce the amount of work he needed to do. An idea hit him just as he was about to lose hope.

"Miss Rarity, can't we just duplicate the gems?" Mike asked. Rarity stopped and turned around.

"If only. That kind of magic is impossible. Even the few unicorns that can do it only make copies that last for a few minutes." Rarity said.

_Challenge accepted._

"May I see one of those gems for a moment? I won't take long." Mike asked.

"Of course." She replied before walking off to find more gems.

Mike levitated one of the gems in his pouch and focused on it. It was a deep Blue color and it was shaped as an octagon. He willed it to clone itself. After a few seconds, he looked up. Nothing had happened. Mike tried once more, but this time he tried his absolute hardest. He looked up and grinned. There were not merely two gems in front of him, but dozens. They were all exact copies of the original.

"Miss Rarity!" he called out with a smile.

"What is it Keen? I need you to- dear Celestia!" she gasped.

"I think these should be enough. I'll be with my friends. If you need more, come get me. Have a nice day, Miss Rarity." Mike said before he walked away. He couldn't wait to show this off to Jake and Cameron.

Rarity was left, mouth agape, until something hit her. She called out to Mike, but he was gone.

"Oh, no! These will probably only last a few minutes at best!" she exclaimed. To her surprise, though, they hadn't disappeared even when she got back to her boutique. She wondered what kind of unicorn was so powerful.

**Meanwhile…**

After mentally preparing himself for ten minutes, Jake began his stunt. He wasn't entirely sure if laws of physics were on his side, but he went at it anyway. He leaped off of a cloud. He flew straight in the air, high enough to make a sonic boom. He dove straight down to a deep blue colored lake that passed through A Light Greed shaded grassy field. He felt that he was about to make a sonic boom, but he kept his speed low enough that it didn't happen before he hit his target. He was only meters away from the water before he allowed the sonic boom to happen. He quickly used the force it created to change his direction. He quickly started rotating around an area on the lake. If it wasn't obvious before, it was now.

He was trying to make a water tornado.

Normally, it would have taken a large amount of pegasi to create a waterspout of the immense size of what Jake was making. However, at the speed he was going, Jake was single handedly, er. . . hoofedly, creating one. He guessed that the size of the tornado would be about half of the entire lake. When he felt that he was losing speed, he quickly escaped its rotation and observed what he had created.

_Wow._

The waterspout was a marvel to look at. The deep blue color swirled round and round in frenzy. Thank Celestia it didn't rear off and cause collateral damage. Though it lasted only half a minute after he left, the twister he had created was three-fourths of the entire lake. It was beginning to lose speed and became thinner until it finally collapsed in on itself, causing a spray of water droplets to pelt anything in a close distance of it. After it had disappeared, Jake looked to Rainbow Dash, who was on the ground. She was dumbfounded and her mouth was agape. Jake casually flew over to her.

"What do you think?" he asked, as if it weren't obvious enough. Rainbow Dash kept staring at where the tornado had been. After a few seconds she unleashed her answer.

"Ohmygoshohmygosh! That was so cool!" Rainbow exclaimed. She continued her raving until something caught her eye. "You have your cutie mark, Agile!"

"What?" he said as he looked at his flank. It was a simple yellow circle with a black outline.

_What the heck does that mean?_

Rainbow must have been thinking that as well, for she asked the same thing.

"I have absolutely no idea." Jake answered.

**At Sugarcube Corner…**

"Crap…" Cameron muttered quietly when he accidentally closed Pinkie Pie's safe. Pinkie had opened it for him and told him to get his wage for the day. He had been overjoyed and taken a small bag full of bits. Sadly, it was slightly less than what he had received on his first day. Cameron had taken the time to count all 1013 of them on his first day. Now he had around a hundred less. He had returned with another one and was about to fill it when his hoof accidentally smacked the safe's door. Now he was left with the one small bag. Pinkie had already left for the day, stating that she had to decorate for the Summer Sun Celebration even though it was a week away.

Cameron kicked the safe in frustration. Almost immediately, he closed his eyes as he tried to stop himself before he received the inevitable pain. However, it never came. He opened his eyes and saw that his hoof had gone clean through the metal case. At this point, he did what any rational person would do.

He filled the second bag with cash.

**Later, at the apartment…**

Mike was the first to get back. He had taken his sweet time to walk all the way to the apartment. The first thing he did was walk up to Cameron's room and open the door. He proceeded to take a small amount of coins and duplicate them, just as he did with the gems. He continued this process until the amount of coins matched what Mike had taken a few days earlier.

Just as he was about to leave, Jake walked in.

"Why are you in my room?" Jake asked.

"Just paying Cam back what I took." Mike replied.

"So you did get you _did _get a job."

"Well, yes. However, that's not how I got the cash." Mike said.

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"My pleasure." Mike said as he took a coin and duplicated it. Jake's mouth fell agape.

"When the heck did you learn this?" he asked.

"Earlier today. Apparently I can do impossible magic."

"Awesome." Jake said with a grin.

"What did you do?" Mike said, trying to get onto another subject.

"I made a water tornado by myself." Jake responded proudly. It was now Mike's turn to be surprised.

"I thought that took like hundred ponies."

"I guess you're not the only one that can do impossible things." Jake said.

"I see you got your cutie mark." Mike said, looking upon the yellow circle.

"I should say the same to you."

Mike looked at his flank. Sure enough, there was a crimson circle.

"Why are our marks circles?" Mike questioned.

"If I knew, I'd tell you." Jake said.

At that moment, Cameron burst through the door. Quite literally. The door was smashed to bits as Cameron walked through.

"What the hell?" Jake yelled.

"Sorry, Jake. I couldn't resist." Cameron said with a smile. He took the time to explain that he now had amazing strength.

When he had finished telling his tale, Mike mentioned to Cameron, "By the way, you got your cutie mark."

"My what?" Cameron asked.

"Dud, I explained this to you already!" Jake exclaimed.

"Whatever."

"Just check your side." Mike said. Cameron did so, and saw that he had a deep blue circle similar to his friends. He studied it.

"Why is it a-?"

"We don't know." Mike and Jake said in unison.


	10. Uh, What Happened?

The friends stood still as they tried to figure out what their cutie marks meant.

"They obviously have to do with our abilities." Jake said after a minute of thought.

"No dur, Sherlock. However, I'm pretty sure your special talent isn't creating water tornados. Same thing with me and Cameron. My special talent isn't duplicating things. I can do a lot more than that." Mike said.

"Wait, I have an idea." Cameron said all of a sudden.

"That's a first, Cam." Mike joked.

Cameron ignored the insult and continued. "We all did something impossible today. For example, Mike cloned things today. I mean it's cool, but it's impossible. And with Jake, he made a tornado by himself."

"I think I see what you're getting at Cam, but that doesn't help us much." Jake said.

"I wasn't finished. This is what I think they mean. Mike's special ability or whatever is that he can do impossible things with magic. Jake can do impossible things with speed and I can do impossible things with strength."

Mike nodded in agreement. "Makes sense."

"I still don't get why they're different colored circles." Jake said.

Cameron shrugged. "I don't know either."

The friends simply sat down and sighed.

After a minute of silence, Mike's face lit up.

"Forget about the cutie marks, I think I can get us home!" he exclaimed.

Cameron and Jake looked at him in surprise.

"Here, I'll explain. Our original plan was to wait until after the Summer Sun Celebration to ask Twilight Sparkle to get the princess to send us back. Now that you guys have me, I can get us into the Canterlot and speak to Celestia directly." Mike seemed proud of his plan. Jake and Cameron were impressed as well.

"It's defiantly worth a shot. Let's do this." Jake said as he got up.

"Hell, sooner we get back home the better." Cameron agreed.

"All right, we'll be there in ten seconds flat. Give me a moment." Mike said as he started focusing on teleporting the trio to Canterlot.

He focused on the princess's castle. After a few moments, he opened his eyes. They weren't anywhere near the castle, or Canterlot for that matter.

**At the Castle…**

Princess Celestia was immediately alerted the instant somepony tried to teleport into her Castle. She had placed a protective spell that caused a pony to land at a completely different location should they try to teleport directly into her chambers.

The main reason she had put the spell into effect was to keep out the ponies that had no respect for her personal space. They simply did not have permission to come and go as they pleased. It was _her_ home after all.

She returned to reading the latest report from her pupil, Twilight Sparkle.

**The Everfree Forest…**

"What the hell did you do?" Jake asked Mike.

"Hey, don't look at me! I was doing everything right. I think we were redirected here." Mike said.

"We're in some kind of forest. Some creepy, dark forest." Cameron said.

"Thanks for the information, Captain Obvious." Mike scolded.

"Anytime, Sergeant Sarcasm." Cameron retorted.

"Will you two shut up?" Jake exclaimed.

"Right, sorry." Cameron said.

"Mike, get us out of here." Jake ordered.

"Why? We weren't exactly doing anything back at the apartment. Let's explore a bit." Mike said with a grin.

"You do realize this is the Everfree Forest, right?" Jake asked.

"Stop being such a wuss. If anything goes wrong, I'll just teleport us home." Mike said confidently.

Jake sighed. "Lead the way Mr. Tour Guide. "

In mere minutes, Cameron was complaining about how bored he was. It ranged from him saying how boring the forest was to how boring waling was. Mike was about to lose it when Cameron spotted the ruins of an old castle.

"Wow, let's head over there." Cameron said as he pointed at the ruins.

"No way in hell." Jake said quickly.

"I have to agree with Jake on this one. That place doesn't look all that friendly." Mike added.

"Oh, come on. Let's just spend the night there. It'll be fun." Cameron persisted.

"There is no chance that I will ever spend the night anywhere with you, Cam. Remember when you hung me upside down while I was asleep?" Mike said.

"Ah, yes." Cameron smiled as he reminisced. "Good times. Good times."

"Shut up, I'll never trust you to behave while I'm asleep." Mike scorned.

"Whatever. I'm heading up." Cameron said as he started walking.

"Fine. Don't come crying to me when you get possessed by some weird spirit or die." Mike said as he walked in the opposite direction of the ruins. Jake quickly smacked him on the head.

"We need to stick together, idiot. We won't be able to get home without you." Jake said.

Mike rubbed the lump forming on his head. "Right, sorry."

They walked behind Cameron up some stairs up to a balcony that overlooked the entire forest. However, as they reached the top, they heard a voice. Upon closer examination, Jake and Mike realized that it was Nightmare Moon. Cameron continued walking and was about to say something when Mike covered his mouth and Jake pulled him back. Cameron realized this to be the universal "Shut the Hell Up" signal. The trio stared at the villain who was talking to herself in an unintelligible manner.

Suddenly, Mike went into troll mode. He levitated a loose stone slab and chucked it down the stairs. The sound of the stone hitting every step possible made Jake cringe.

_Yep, it's official. We are horribly screwed. _Jake thought. Just as Nightmare began to turn around, Mike realized the crap he just got the friends into.

Mike had always been both impulsive and random. Jake had learned this when years ago when Mike had thrown a chunk of ice the size of a baseball at someone's window. When Jake asked why he had done it, Mike had simply replied that he didn't really think about it until after it was too late. Jake had resolved to stay far away whenever Mike got into one of his random moods.

Nightmare simply frowned at them. Then, all of a sudden, she smiled.

"Are you three lost?" she said with mock concern. "No matter. You should not have come here. Prepare to feel my wrath!"

The next thing Jake knew, he was thrown clear across the room into a stone wall. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

_Shit just got real. _Mike watched as Cameron sped up to give Nightmare a fierce kick. Nightmare moved to the side to dodge the blow, causing Cameron to obliterate the wall that had been behind her. Nightmare looked astonished at what the pony's strength. Nopony should have been able to have that much strength.

Mike used this time to rush over to Jake and make sure he wasn't dead.

"You okay?" Mike asked, concerned.

He was answered by a smack in the face.

"Idiot!" Jake scolded. He looked behind Mike to see the collapsed wall. He shook his head and looked back at Mike. "We'll talk about this later."

Jake flew towards Nightmare at full speed. She was caught off guard as a hoof came out of nowhere and hit her muzzle with incredible force. She quickly recovered and dodged another uppercut from Cameron. She had underestimated these ponies.

Mike stood, thinking about what to do. Neither of his two friends were landing any solid hits and they couldn't hold out forever. He watched as Jake tried once again to hit Nightmare at high speed. He suddenly stopped as he was about to make contact with Nightmare's faceplate and was then thrown out of the gaping hole in the room. After a few seconds, Nightmare did the same with Cameron. He managed to grab the ledge with a single hoof and held on.

_Crap! I'm next!_

Mike concentrated as much as could on his magic. There had to be something he could do.

Jake flew back towards the castle ruins and saw that Cameron was on the ledge, struggling to get back up. Jake helped him back up, wincing at the pain that he had received from hitting the stone wall. He was then blinded by an intense white light. Although he had shut them, his eyes still hurt. When the brightness finally subsided, Jake saw that Mike was slumped on the floor and Cameron was already beside him.

"You're okay, dude. Come on, up and at 'em." Cameron said as he nudged Mike.

"Easy for you to say. I feel like crap." Mike responded as he got up.

"And you look like it to. What the hell did you do?"

"I can honestly say that I have no idea." Mike said.

The trio walked to the Smoking crater where Nightmare Moon had been. They all jumped when they heard a moan. As the smoke started to clear, they saw something that shocked both Mike and Jake.

Instead of a wounded Nightmare, they saw an unconscious Princess Luna.

"Oooooh shit." Mike and Jake said in unison.

**A/N**

**I'm back! After more than a week of being gone, I give you my newest chapter. As promised, I will try to send out two chapters per day! As always, Read and Review, Favorite and all that good stuff.**

**End A/N**


	11. Yet Another Plan?

"What the hell did you do?" Jake scolded Mike.

"I told you! I have no idea! Holy crap, this is bad." Mike said.

"Will someone please enlighten me?" Cameron said, annoyed at the fact that he had no idea what was really going on."

"This here is Princess Luna, Celestia's sister. She was actually Nightmare Moon but got turned back into herself after the second episode of the TV show." Mike explained.

"Okay, I think I get it but I'm still not seeing the problem." Cameron said impatiently.

"I was getting to that. She's supposed to be turned back into herself by the main characters on the show, meaning Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and so on." Mike continued.

"And this is a problem because Mike was stupid enough to change the _entire_ storyline of the show. The Mane Six won't become friends, which means basically everything in this world will change." Jake said.

"In short, we messed up." Mike said.

"Correction. _You _messed up." Jake said.

"Hey, I could've died! Sorry for trying to protect myself!" Mike exclaimed.

"You were the one who got us spotted! This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't thrown a freaking rock down the stairs for the fun of it!" Jake retorted.

"Well, I-" Mike started. He was interrupted by the sound of Luna's groaning.

"Crap, she's waking up!" Jake whispered. He saw Mike's horn glow and watched as Luna fell back to sleep.

"There has to be a way out of this mess." Cameron said.

The three laid down, exhausted. Jake felt a throbbing pain in his wings. Cameron's front legs hurt from all of his kicks. Mike's head hung low, but an idea made him grin.

"Got it!" He exclaimed.

"That was fast." Jake said.

"Here's my idea: We already know what happens in the episode, so why don't we just recreate it?"

"How are we going to recreate it? Nightmare is long gone."

"I could make an illusion of her or something! I can make it look like she's there, but she really isn't."

"Care to demonstrate?" Cameron asked.

Mike's horn glowed once more and in a few moments, there was a full sized Nightmare Moon standing beside Mike.

"See? I can do it." Jake heard Mike say, however, he heard Nightmare speak the same thing.

"You can make her speak too! This might actually work." Jake said.

The illusion of Nightmare disappeared.

"The plan is going to be complicated. Cam, this means that you have to pay attention. No dozing off while I'm talking." Mike said sternly.

"Fine, you have my full attention." Cameron said.

"The first thing we have to do is make sure that the moon still has the face on it." Mike said as he looked up into the dark night sky.

"Yep, it's gone."

"Can you fix it?" Jake asked.

"I think so. Hold on." Mikesaid as he concentrated once more. "There we go."

"Awesome."

"Alright, here's the next thing we need to do. In the episode, the Mane Six had to go through some tests or whatever so that they could get to this castle and find the Elements of Harmony. As they completed the trials, Twilight was able to figure out what element each pony represented. This means we need to recreate the tests."

"We'll plan that when we get to the apartment. Right now, we need to focus on the unconscious Luna we have right here. What exactly are we gonna do with her?" Jake asked.

"I'll keep her sleeping in our apartment until the Mane Six "defeat" my illusion of Nightmare Moon. Then I'll just teleport her here and let her wake up." Mike explained.

"Is that it?" Jake asked.

"That's all that we really need to do. The trials are probably going to be the hardest part. Lets head back to the apartment." Mike answered.

"Wait. When is the celebration anyway?" Cameron asked.

"Idiot, I told you a couple days ago, remember?" Jake said.

"Nope. Wasn't really paying attention."

"You are going to be the death of me, Cam. It's in six days. Do you understand? _Six _days. Repeat after me: six days." Jake said in a mocking tone.

"Shut up. I get it." Cameron said.

"Can we just head back? I'm exhausted from that magic I used." Mike said.

"Fine." Jake and Cameron said in unison. Mike's horn glowed and the trio and Luna vanished from the castle.

**The next morning…**

Rainbow had to admit, she couldn't stop thinking about Agile. She was amazed at how much they were alike, even more so at his speed and talent for flying. On the previous day, she had arrived at his apartment to say hi, but he wasn't there. Nor were his friends, Facade and Keen. She had taken a cloud over to the apartment and laid waiting for his return. She could tell after an hour that he wouldn't be back for some time, so she took a nap. When she awoke, it was already morning.

"Hey! Down here!" said a familiar voice. Rainbow smiled as she realized it was Agile. She peered down from her cloud. Agile smiled. "I need to talk to you! You mind coming down?"

Dash had to struggle to make sure she didn't look too excited.

"Sure." She said, trying to sound casual. She landed close to him.

_She looks exceptionally cute today. _He thought to himself.

"What I wanted to say was that we haven't had a real… date for last few days, so I was wondering if… you would… allow me to take you on another?" Agile said nervously.

Rainbow almost burst into a wave of "Ohmygosh", but managed to keep her composure.

"Sure. What did you have in mind?" She asked.

"Can't tell you, it's a surprise. I'll be back soon." He replied.

Rainbow Dash waited until Agile was out of sight. She then proceeded to unleash a long wave of "Ohmygosh".

**Meanwhile…**

Rarity woke with a start. She had been working on her latest dress designs all night, the third time that week. Just as she was getting ready to brush her mane back into its normal styling, somepony knocked on the door to her boutique.

"Yes? Who is it?" she inquired.

"It's Keen, Miss Rarity. I need to talk to you if you don't mind." said Keen.

"One second darling!" Rarity said quickly. She couldn't let anypony see her with bed head.

After a long ten minutes, Keen was finally let inside.

"What was it you wanted to ask me, Keen?" Rarity said as she closed the door behind Keen.

"I was wondering, if you wanted to, we could have dinner somewhere after work today. Perhaps I could make dinner."

"Why, I would be delighted to." Rarity's face lit up. She really wasn't expecting this from somepony she had hired only a day prior. However, she wanted to get to know Keen better.

Also, he was quite handsome.

"That's great. Now, what will you have me do today?" Keen said smoothly.

**Outskirts of Ponyville…**

Cameron was surprised. No, he was astounded at what his friends were doing. When they had arrived home late the night before, Jake had randomly said that if he was thinking about asking Rainbow Dash on another date. Mike had proceeded to tell Jake that he was better at romance than Jake. After a heated argument that lasted a full minute and an awkward silence, Mike said that he was thinking about asking out somepony called Rarity.

Cameron could not get over how weird the two of them were being. After all, they were talking about dating ponies. It just sounded… strange.

Cameron kept thinking about the plan Mike had come up with. Apparently, each one of them would have to be in charge of two tests. One for each pony. Six total. Jake had made sure Cameron remembered.

He was in charge of Pinkie Pie and another called Fluttershy. He was supposed to get to know Fluttershy, for whatever reason. He personally thought he was tasked with this so that he would be out of both Jake and Mike's hair.

He approached a cottage with all kinds of animals wandering about. The roof of the cottage was made entirely of grass. Bird houses were situated at every point possible.

_Maybe she's some kind of hippie pony. _Cameron thought to himself.

He knocked on the door twice. It opened a tiny bit and Cameron heard a voice so soft it was barely audible.

"Hello?" said the voice. Cameron was surprised that the pony spoke so softly. He could tell already that the Fluttershy was… well, shy.

_I should probably try to speak softly to her. Just so I don't scare her._

"Hello. Are you Fluttershy?" Cameron said as quietly as he could.

"Yes. May I help you with something?" she replied as she opened the door more. Cameron could now see what the pony looked like. She had a pink mane and was yellow. He eyes looked sad, but also relaxed. They were blue, almost as if one were staring at the sky. Her cutie mark was three pink butterflies, probably meaning she was good with animals.

Cameron felt that only one thing fit what he thought of her: Cuteness Overload.

Right then and there, he wanted to hug the pony. However, that wouldn't be appropriate or wise. Cameron tried to regain his composure.

"My name is Facade. I was wondering if I could talk to you about your animals. May I come inside, please?" he asked politely.

Fluttershy was surprised to see somepony, to say the least. She hadn't had any real visitors to her cottage in a very long time. She looked at Facade. He was a bit taller than her, and looked tough. However, he didn't look mean or scary at all. He actually seemed to radiate kindness. She felt her shyness go away a little.

"Yes, please come in." she said.

**In Cloudsdale…**

After many long hours of trying to find where the Wonderbolts' were located, Jake found them at the empty stadium, practicing.

After two more maneuvers, the group decided to take a break. Jake walked casually up to the captain, Spitfire, a yellow pony with an orange mane.

"Hello, Spitfire. I was wondering if you and the Wonderbolts could help me out with something." Jake asked.

"Um, I'm sorry. Do I know you?" Spitfire asked back.

"My name's Agile." Jake answered.

"Well, Agile, why should we help you with something? We are busy preparing a new stunt for the Summer Sun Celebration." Piped up another mare with a white colored mane.

"Fleetfoot's right. We are pretty busy." Said another blue colored pony. Jake recognized him to be Soarin'.

"Look, I know you're all busy but I really need you to meet this one mare." Jake said.

"You know what, I'll give you a chance. If you beat me in a race, we'll all go down and meat your marefriend." Spitfire said.

"You have to be kidding! You're the fastest out of all of us, Spitfire. He has no chance." Said Soarin'.

"That's my only offer." Spitfire said, looking back at Jake.

"Fine. Prepare to lose." Jake said.

"You're pretty smug." Spitfire said with a smile.

The entire group headed for a nearby racing area. The two stood at the starting line.

"On the count of three! One… two… three!" counted Fleetfoot.

From the start, Jake was already winning. In a matter of seconds he was already twice as far as Spitfire was.

Just for fun, Jake decided to perform a sonic boom. Unlike the other times, this one would be performed horizontally. From what he could tell, it was much harder than flying vertically. Without the gravity to help him gain speed, he would have to fly at supersonic speed by himself.

He did so with ease.

In no more than a few seconds, he was already past the finish line. It took him a second to stop moving. He flew back to the finishing line and saw all the Wonderbolts' mouths agape. In a few seconds, Spitfire arrived at the finish line.

"I'll see you all later six o' clock tonight. Please don't be late." Jake said as he hlew back to Ponyville.

Soarin' said what everypony was thinking:

"Who is that Pegasus?"

**A/N**

**This chapter is a longer than my usual chapter, so enjoy! **

**Chapter 13 in production!**

**As always, R and R, Favorite, and all that cool stuff.**

**End A/N**


	12. Expedition

Cameron was enjoying his time with Fluttershy much more than he had first thought. He had expected her to become uncomfortable with his presence within a few minutes after meeting him. Thankfully, this wasn't the case. He had spent hours at Fluttershy's cottage.

In truth, Fluttershy loved his company. He had helped her with feeding the animals. He had taken an interest in all the types of animals she cared for. The animals appeared to like Facade quite a bit, too.

Except Angel. Angel didn't seem to like Facade in the slightest. Fluttershy couldn't figure out what was causing her fuzzy friend to act this way. Facade was kind, gentle, and understanding. She didn't feel shy at all when he was around. Maybe Angel was jealous.

"So, you're going to be in charge of the music at the Summer Sun Celebration, right?" Facade asked.

"Oh, dear! I forgot to have the birds practice today!" she exclaimed as she zipped away. A moment later, she came back in and added, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Please come back tomorrow."

"Of course. Goodbye, Fluttershy." Facade said as he departed.

As he walked back towards town, he thought only about Fluttershy. He then scolded himself.

_Shit. I'm no better than Mike or Jake. I actually like a pony._

**Meanwhile…**

Rarity's job had become much easier ever since she had hired Keen. She no longer had to continuously search for the gems she needed to use in the clothing she made. This, however, left Keen with little or nothing to do. To occupy himself, he had started experimenting with his magic on the gems.

So far, he was now able to change the shape, color, and size of the gems to whatever he wanted. He was now working on doing all three simultaneously.

Rarity glanced back towards Keen. He muttered something as he focused his magic on a blue sapphire in the shape of a rectangle. His horn glowed, and the sapphire morphed into a red crystal sphere.

_Like a boss. _He thought. Pleased with himself, Mike proceeded to lay back and fall asleep.

Rarity smiled. Keen was both charming and ridiculous, a combination she didn't think was really possible. She returned to her latest dress and sighed. It needed something, but. . . what?

Mike heard Rarity sigh and opened one of his eyes slightly. He didn't have an eye for fashion, but he could tell that Rarity wasn't pleased with her dress. It was a bright white and purple, which meant that it was probably meant for her. He stood up and walked over to her.

"It looks great, Miss Rarity." He said.

"Don't lie to me. It's dreadful! I might as well throw it into the trash!" she exclaimed dramatically.

"I have an idea." Mike said as he walked towards the model that sported the dress.

He took three random gems from a large pile and concentrated. He opened his eyes to make sure they were the right shape and color. He then placed the three on the front of the dress. Truthfully, he wasn't sure that his idea was very fashionable, but he thought it at least looked nice.

Rarity stared at her dress. The gems Keen had taken were now in the same shape and color of her cutie mark. They were even placed in the same formation.

"Is it better?" Keen asked.

"Better? Keen, it's perfect! "She exclaimed with joy. "How did you know that the dress was for me?"

"Call it intuition." Keen said with a smile.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before they felt themselves turning red. Rarity managed to stop staring and changed the subject.

"It's almost five o' clock, Keen. Weren't you going to make dinner for us?"

"Oh! Right! Darn it. I'll get something set up, don't worry." He said as he rushed into her kitchen.

Rarity giggled as he left the room.

_Charming and ridiculous. What an interesting combination._

**Just outside Ponyville…**

"Can you please tell me where we are going?" Rainbow Dash asked as Agile led away from Ponyville. She had been blindfolded and therefore had no idea where they were.

"I told you that you'll find out soon enough." Agile replied. "Don't be so impatient."

After another minute or so of walking, Agile stopped.

"We're here." He said.

Rainbow took off the blindfold and found that they were both in the field that they had first met each other.

"So, what's the big surprise?" She asked.

"Look up." He replied.

She did so and saw large group of pegasi flying across the sky. She squinted and was shocked to see that they were the Wonderbolts. The large group formed into a circle and flew straight up. As soon as they reached a decent height, each member flew outward.

The whole stunt made the Wonderbolts look like water from a fountain. The ponies broke off into two groups on the left and right and flew to the opposite side in a criss-cross fashion.

Spitfire was the first to land and the rest of the Wonderbolts did the same in pairs of two.

Rainbow Dash merely stared in awe. She was beyond words.

"Spitfire, this is Rainbow Dash. The mare I was talking about earlier." Agile said.

"Right. Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash."Spitfire said.

Rainbow managed a weak "Hi." Then she turned to Agile. "How did you-?"

"I have my ways. All that matters is that you get to hang out with the Wonderbolts for an hour. I'll be back later." Agile answered.

"It's not much of a date if you leave the mare." Spitfire said with a smile.

Jake thought for a second. The Summer Sun Celebration was now 5 days away, and he needed to plan the tests he was responsible for. He sighed.

"Sure I'll stay." He said. "Rainbow, you have the Wonderbolts to yourself. Enjoy."

Jake was surprised to feel Rainbow Dash hug him. It took him a second to really realize what was going on and he returned the hug.

**Meanwhile…**

As Cameron walked back into Ponyville, he realized that he had forgotten to go to work. He had been too preoccupied with talking to Fluttershy to remember earlier.

_I guess I could call in a sick day or whatever._

To his surprise, Sugarcube Corner was closed. Cameron sighed in relief.

However, he now had nothing to do. Both of his friends were busy and there wasn't exactly anypony (except Fluttershy) that he necessarily wanted to talk to. He thought about going to his apartment and going to sleep. However, he wasn't necessarily tired. He also wasn't comfortable sleeping in the same room with the pony who tried to kill them only the night before.

After going over all his options, he decided to take a walk through the Everfree Forest. Jake had warned him that it was full of "dangerous" crap, but Cameron was sure he could handle himself. After all, he broke through metal as if it was tissue paper.

He walked to the edge of the forest and stopped for a moment. It was visibly darker in there then it was outside. It made it look all the more ominous.

Cameron smiled. He wasn't about to wimp out because of some trees. He strode into the forest casually. As he walked around, he was unimpressed with what he saw. Just boring trees and random woodland animals. He kept track of every turn he made so that he wouldn't get lost in the immense forest.

The only thing that interested him were the bright blue colored plants he had found scattered around. He knew from some science book that bright colors usually meant poison, or something of that nature. Cameron never did pay attention to anything that didn't catch his interest.

He took care to dodge the patches and kept a look out for anything else suspicious looking. After another expanse of trees, he stumbled upon a clearing with a small hut. This interested him greatly. He walked up to the hut and knocked on its door.

"Hello?" he asked.

The door opened to reveal a zebra with many gold rings on her neck and one leg. Cameron had thought there were only ponies in this world. Now there were zebras?

"Who is this pony that knocks on my door? A curious one to be sure." Said the zebra.

"Uh, hi. My name's Facade. What's your name?" Cameron said.

"I am Zecora, greens keeper of these woods. Tell me how you got here, I'd be pleased if you would."

"Well, I just… walked here. Why?"

"You are pony folk, yet you did not step in the Poison Joke." Zecora said.

"Poison what?" Cameron asked.

"Poison Joke is a blue plant that lives on the ground. There surely must have been some that you found."

_Poison? Knew it. I'm so smart. _Cameron thought.

"Yeah, I saw a lot of it. I was pretty sure that you're not supposed to trust brightly colored plants and animals, so I just walked around it."

"I'm surprised that you are talking to me. Most ponies run and flee." She said.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know why?" Cameron said sympathetically.

"Many think that I am strange, but won't try to get to know me. Therefore, I only go into town monthly." Zecora said.

A long silence followed. Cameron tried to change the subject.

"What does Poison Joke do, exactly?"

"It is a lot like poison oak. Though instead of poison, the plant makes only jokes." Zecora answered.

"Wait, if a pony touches this, something funny will happen to them?"

Zecora nodded.

_Awesome. Forget Poison Joke. I'm gonna call it the Troll Plant._

"How would one get it out of the ground without touching it?" Cameron asked deviously.

Zecora smiled and led him inside.

**A/N**

**Ooo! Clifhanger! You know the drill, Read, Review, Favorite, and all that cool stuff.**

**End A/N**


	13. Unexpected Outcomes

Mike thought that he now had things under control. At first, his plan was to use magic to cook the food. But now, with his limited time, he couldn't risk messing up. He had decided to make sandwiches. There was really nothing else he could make.

_Hell, I barely know how to make toast. _

As he was scrambling, he noticed a filly yell "Hey, mister!"

He turned and looked down. It was no other than Sweetie Belle, the younger sister of Rarity.

"I'm sorry. I really am busy right now." Mike said as he returned to his sandwich making.

"You're busy making a sandwich? Sandwiches aren't that hard to make." Sweetie Belle said, confused. "Here, let me try."

"Nonononono." Mike said quickly. In the television show, Sweetie had shown no talent for cooking. He remembered that she had managed to not only burn toast, bust liquefy it as well. "I mean no thank you. I'm fine. You're Sweetie Belle, right?"

"Yep!" Sweetie said with a smile. "I'm visiting my sister for the Summer Sun Celebration!"

"Huh, cool." Mike said as he put some sunflowers on top of a piece of bread.

"Speaking of my sister, are you her new coltfriend or something?"

"Um. I don't really know." Mike said. "Why, did she say something?"

"I'm not telling." Sweetie Belle said. Mike sighed.

"Sweetie Belle! Get out of the kitchen and leave Keen alone!" Rarity said as she as she walked in.

"But I was only-"

"Sweetie Belle!"

"Fine." Sweetie Belle said as she walked away, her head hung low.

Rarity turned to Mike. "I'm sorry about Sweetie Belle. She can sometimes be a bit… much."

"It's no problem. She's cute." Mike replied. He peered over Rarity's shoulders. "Sweetie Belle, will you stop spying on us?"

"Sorry!" Sweetie Belle said as she hurried away.

"Anyway, I hope sandwiches are romantic enough for you." Mike said nervously.

"That's perfect, Keen" Rarity said. In all truth, she could have cared less about the food. She was incredibly intrigued by Keen. Even more so with his magical abilities.

_Huh. Isn't it ironic that I'm making a sandwich for her? No, this is different._ Mike thought.

**At the field…**

"So, what's the deal?" asked Soarin'.

"What?" Jake said as he averted his gaze from Rainbow Dash. She seemed to be enjoying herself with the Wonderbolts.

"You know what I'm talking about. You are, without a doubt, the fastest pony in all of Equestria. Have you ever even _considered _that you would be a great Wonderbolt?"

Jake shrugged. "Never really thought about it. You should really be thinking about Rainbow Dash. She actually wants to be a Wonderbolt."

"Is she as fast as you? Can she do perform incredible feats like you?" Soarin' asked.

"No and yes. As you said, nopony is as fast as me. But Rainbow Dash can do amazing things as well." He turned toward Rainbow Dash. "Hey! Rainbow! Show them your Sonic Rainboom!"

Rainbow Dash tensed up at the mention of "Sonic Rainboom". Jake realized exactly what he had done. She hadn't been able to perform a Sonic Rainboom since she was a filly.

"A Sonic Rainboom? She can do one?" asked Soarin'.

Jake tried to figure out what to say.

"Um, yes. However she only did it when she was a filly."

"When she was a filly? That's amazing!" Spitfire said. Rainbow Dash blushed.

"Uh, yeah. But, like I was saying, she hasn't been able to do one since." Jake finished.

"That's a shame." Soarin' stated bluntly.

"Why not?" Spitfire asked Rainbow Dash.

"I-I can so do a Sonic Rainboom. Agile doesn't know what he's talking about." Rainbow said, trying to sound confident.

"Rainbow-"Jake tried to get Rainbow Dash to calm down, but by then it was already too late. Rainbow Dash soared into the sky high enough so that she could perform a Sonic Rainboom.

_Shit! She's going to embarrass herself! C'mon Rainbow Dash, calm down before you do anything stupid. _Just as Jake finished his thought, Rainbow Dash dove straight down.

_Maybe this will end nicely and she actually does a Sonic Rainboom. _Rainbow Dash was reaching the speed needed, but she looked as if she couldn't keep up her speed. For some principal of physics that Jake didn't quite understand, Just as he thought she was about to make the Sonic Rainboom, she was launched in the opposite direction.

_Damn you, universe! Damn you!_

**Carousel Boutique…**

Sweetie Belle stood just outside the kitchen door. She was unimaginably bored and eavesdropping on Rarity and her new coltfriend, Keen, seemed like fun. Some parts were romantic, like when Rarity had thanked Keen for finishing her dress. Other parts were plain boring.

"Rarity, you do know that Sweetie Belle has been listening us for the entire time, don't you?" Keen said out of the blue.

_Oh no!_ Sweetie Belle thought.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Sorry!" she said as she rushed up the stairs.

When Rarity was sure that Sweetie Belle was not eavesdropping anymore, she asked Keen, "Why didn't you tell me earlier that she was there? A little filly shouldn't listen in on romance!"

"Romance?" Mike said with a grin. Rarity blushed.

"Well, yes… I mean… I… you… "Rarity stammered.

"Don't worry. It's fine." Keen looked out the window. "Yikes, it's late. I should head back over to my apartment. I'm glad to have had this date, Miss Rarity."

Keen started to walk towards the front door, and then stopped.

"If it means anything, I thought of it as romance too." Keen said looking back towards Rarity. He then opened the door and departed.

"Goodbye, Keen." Rarity said with a smile. _Charming and Ridiculous._

Mike walked cheerily to the apartment.

_Jake is going to have to try pretty hard to top my date._

After the short walk, Mike headed up the stairs to his friend's room. On the second flight, he saw Jake moping.

"You okay?" Mike asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jake answered.

"Your date went crappy?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Jake said again.

"You're not planning on sleeping out here are you? Cheer up and lets head to our rooms." Mike said.

"Fine." Jake sighed. They both headed up the flight of stairs and headed to Jake's room.

"Knock, knock." Mike said as he opened the door. He saw that Cameron was already in there along with Luna. Luna still slept soundly on the sofa.

"Hey, guys!" Cameron said rather cheerily. "How'd your dates go?"

Jake fell back into his depressed state and Mike facehoofed.

"Try not to bring the subject up with him. I can tell it didn't go well." Mike said to Cameron.

"How'd yours go?" Cameron asked.

"Awesome." Mike said. He immediately regretted his words and turned back to Jake. Now he was on the floor, even more depressed than before.

"Hey, cheer up, buddy." Cameron said."Look, I made you both sandwiches."

"Oh, please no. I had an entire dinner composed of just sandwiches."

"Come on, Mike. I made them special for you guys." Cameron said as he put a plate with two sandwiches on the table near Jake.

"Fine." Mike said as he took a sandwich from the plate. Jake had already taken one, but seemed too depressed to eat.

Just as he was about to take a bite, Mike noticed that the sandwich had a blue plant inside of it.

_Blue plant? Cameron making us sandwiches? Holy shit! _Mike thought as the pieces started falling into place.

Jake was oblivious to the inside of his sandwich. He was about to take a bite when Mike smacked it out of his hoofs and onto the ground.

"Don't eat that!" Mike exclaimed.

"What the hell?" Jake asked.

Mike turned to Cameron. "How the hell did you get ahold of Poison Joke?"

"You mean Troll Plant? I got it in the Everfree Forest. You actually know about that stuff?"

"I'm a Brony, you idiot!"

"Oh, right."

"You seriously tried to put this crap on us?" Mike scolded.

"Yep. Sounded like fun." Cameron said simply.

"Freaking imbecile! You put it inside of a sandwich! You could have put the plant literally anywhere." Mike said.

"Shoot, I guess I didn't think about that."

"I'm going to bed. You can figure out what to do with Jake. Good night." Mike said as he slammed the door.

Cameron looked over to Jake, who was already in his bed.

Cameron silently chuckled at his genius.

The sandwiches were only a ruse to get the two to lower their guard. They would never realize that he had put over a hundred of the flowers in their beds!

Cameron turned off the lights and got into his bed. He smiled as he closed his eyes.

_Tomorrow is going to be the most fun I've had all week._

**A/N **

**Read, Review, Favorite, repeat!**

**End A/N**


	14. Trololol

Jake had to admit, he felt like crap. After Rainbow Dash had failed her Sonic Rainboom, she had left without saying anything to Jake or the Wonderbolts. Jake had apologized to the Wonderbolts, thanked them, and told them that they could leave.

When Jake had confronted Rainbow Dash, he had asked if she was okay.

"Okay? I've been embarrassed in front of all the Wonderbolts, and you ask if I'm okay?" she had said.

"Hey! I didn't tell you to try a Sonic Rainboom! You know as well as I do that you haven't been able to do one in a long time!" he had retorted.

"What did you expect me to do? Because of you, the Wonderbolts expected me to do one! It would have made me seem like a coward if I didn't try."

"I only said that because I was trying to show Soarin' that you are an amazing flier. He was asking me why I hadn't tried to become a Wonderbolt, but I knew you wanted to be one more than anything."

"He said that you could be a Wonderbolt? He hadn't even considered me?"

"No! I mean yes, but-"Jake had been about to explain that Soarin' was probably considering Rainbow Dash too, but she cut him off.

"Forget it. Goodbye Agile." She had said as she flew off towards Cloudsdale.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash!" Jake had yelled after her. He stared in the same direction. He sighed, and turned.

He had gone back to the apartment, depressed by what a failure his date was. He had expected it to perfect. He had imagined Rainbow Dash either hugging him or kissing him at the end of it all.

The whole Poison Joke thing came as a surprise to Jake. What were the odds that Cameron had been able to not only find Poison Joke, but to know what it did. It was even more amazing that he had known not to touch it.

He had underestimated Cameron. He would not do so again.

Jake kept his guard up after the sandwich, scanning the room for anything else that could hide the mischievous blue plant. While Mike was scolding Cameron, Jake had slipped away so that he could get to bed and be relieved of the horrible day.

However, he had noticed that multiple blue leaves had been hidden in his bed sheets and pillow.

_That sneaky little… Well played, Cameron. But not well enough. _He had thought.

With blinding speed, he had switched his and Cameron's sheets and pillows. He then hopped into bed and pretended to be asleep.

In the morning, Jake was awoken by the Cameron's sleep talk.

"Camping noob…" He grumbled.

_Ugh. He must seriously miss Call of Duty._

As he started to get up, he made sure that he hadn't been affected by any Poison Joke. He checked his wings and tried flying.

_Seems fine._

His thoughts were interrupted by loud knocking on the door.

"Damn it, Cameron! Get up, you dunce!" Mike yelled. Jake now remembered that he wasn't the only one Cameron wanted to prank.

Jake walked over to the door and unlocked it. Mike burst in and exclaimed, "Where is he?"

Jake took a look at Mike and saw that he no longer had his horn. He walked up to Cameron, who had covered his head with hi sheets, and smacked him upside the head.

"Agh!" Cameron exclaimed. He grabbed his pillow and covered his head with it.

"Wake up, Buttercup! You have five seconds to fix me!" Mike threatened.

"Huh?"

"Wrong answer!" Mike said as he took off the pillow to thump Cameron once more. He stopped as he pulled the pillow from Cameron's grasp.

Instead of a Cameron, there was a mare that looked like him. Mike stifled a laugh.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked. He looked at the new Cameron. "Oh. My. God. This is freaking hilarious."

"He still has the same voice, but he's a mare now! Oh, where's Facebook when you need it?" Mike said.

"… the hell are two talking about?" Cameron said, rubbing his… err her eyes.

"Look in the mirror."

Cameron did so. She cringed at her new appearance.

"What the hell? I only put that plant in your bed and in Jake's bed!" Cameron yelled. He had always been proud to be guy. He found that the opposite gender was weaker and more complicated. Becoming one was at the top of the list of the things her feared.

"I switched the sheets. Shame on you for trying to prank me after my horrible day. Kick me while I'm down, why don't you?" Jake said.

"Forget about that! I'm a girl horse!" Cameron exclaimed.

"Technically you are a pony. And the term for a female pony is mare." Mike informed.

"Guess how much I care?"

"Not at all?"

"Ding! We have a winner. How the hell do we reverse this crap?" Cameron inquired.

"We'll have to head over to Zecora's house and ask for the cure." Mike answered. He heard a grumble come from the sofa.

"Crap! We have an entirely new problem" Mike said. "Without my horn, I can't use magic. Luna will wake up if we don't get this fixed quick.

"Then move your sorry butt!" Cameron ordered as he pushed Mike towards the door. He turned to Jake. "Don't think I'll forget about this."

After the two left for the forest, Jake headed outside. He needed to make things right with Rainbow Dash, even though she would probably never forgive him.

He flew towards Cloudsdale and searched for her house. He knocked on the door and said, "Hello? Rainbow Dash? Can you please come out?"

The door opened slightly and Jake let loose his full apology.

"I am so sorry! I'm sorry that I put you in that situation! I should have kept my mouth shut. I don't want to become a Wonderbolt, but I know that you would be a great one! I'm so sorr-", Jake said.

Rainbow cut him off by hugging him and kissing him.

Jake had not been expecting this. He turned crimson before he finally returned the kiss.

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have been so stubborn." Rainbow said.

"That's actually one of the reasons I like you so much." Jake said with a smile. Rainbow Dash blushed.

They hugged each other for a long time.

"Well, I have nothing going on today, as always. What do you want to do?"

"You haven't been around Cloudsdale. I'd like to show you around."

"Sure thing."

**At the Everfree Forest…**

"Are we lost, Cameron?" Mike asked.

"No. I just don't know where we are." Cameron said, chuckling at her answer.

"Oh, ha ha. This is serious Cam. We need to find Zecora's hut as quick as possible." Mike scolded.

"Calm down. It's right here." Cameron said as she moved a bush. Mike saw the small hut in a clearing.

Cameron knocked on the door. "Zecora! Things didn't go as planned. I got that herb for the cure. Can you let me in?"

The door opened. Zecora looked at the ponies at her front door. She looked at Cameron.

"Facade, is that you? You are a mare now, this is true." Zecora said.

"Yeah. This is my friend, Keen. I managed to prank him. It's a long story." Cameron replied.

When Cameron had finished his story, Zecora agreed to make the cure.

"So is this a pill or something?" Cameron asked.

"No, you must bathe in the brew in order for you to become you." Zecora answered.

Zecora prepared a large washtub with the potion. The two friends looked down into it.

"Ladies first." Mike snickered.

"Shut up." Cameron said.

**At the apartment…**

Princess Luna was starting to regain consciousness. For the past few days, she had been in a strange limbo, not truly understanding where she was. She thought of it merely as a dream.

She opened her eyes.

"What is going-", was all she said before she slumped back down onto the sofa, sleeping from Mike's spell.

**In Cloudsdale…**

Jake had at first been interested to see all the places of Cloudsdale in person, but now he was just bored. Rainbow Dash led him to their final destination, the Rainbow Factory. This was perhaps the only place that interested him.

"Here we are. Make sure you put on all the goggles and stuff." Rainbow said as they walked into the main room.

Jake was about to ask Rainbow if she knew what Rainbow's tasted like when he heard a rather obnoxious voice come from behind him.

"Rainbow Crash has a coltfriend? Hah! What loser actually wants to date her?" said one with a dark brown mane and light brown body. He had basketballs for his cutie mark.

_Oh, God. These fools._

"Care to say that to my face?" Jake said as he turned to the stallion.

"Sure. I said, what loser wants to date Rainbow Crash? What's your name, loser?"

"Agile. My name's Agile. I'm going to warn you once. Leave Rainbow Dash alone, or you will regret coming to work today."

"That's some big talk coming from a loser." Said the other who had a blonde mane and a dark brown body.

Jake turned to Rainbow Dash. "Care to introduce me to your friends?"

"They're just some bullies I know." Rainbow answered. "Just ignore them."

"Easier said than done." Jake said with a sigh. He turned back to the two stallions. "Is there something you wanted besides insulting my marefriend?"

"Not really." Answered the blonde one.

_My patience levels are dropping._

"Rainbow, I'm going to have to do something. Wait here for a little bit. I won't take long." Jake said as he walked up to the two pegasi. "Name anything that you think you can do better than me, and I'll show you at it."

"It kinda sounds like he wants to race us or something." Said the blonde one.

_You don't say?_

"Ha! Fine. There's no way you can beat us in a race." Said the brown haired one.

"I guess we'll find out." He said as he winked at Rainbow Dash. She smiled because she knew they didn't stand a chance.

"Race to the stadium and back." Said the blonde Pegasus.

"That's it? Fine." Jake replied.

"Three… two… one!"

The two bullies zipped off in the direction of the stadium. Jake turned to Rainbow Dash.

"After I'm done here, do you want to get something from Sugarcube Corner? My treat." He asked.

She nodded and said, "Get going!"

Jake smiled and took off. As he expected, the two pegasi hadn't reached the stadium yet. He passed them and reached the stadium in only a few seconds. He waited for them to reach the stadium

"No way!" The blonde pony exclaimed.

"Yes way. See you two later." Jake said as he accelerated for a sonic boom. The sheer force from the sonic boom caused the two pegasi to blast off into a completely different direction.

As he reached the Rainbow factory, the few workers still there were staring in awe. Jake took off the coat and protective gear and headed straight to Sugarcube Corner.

**At Sugarcube Corner…**

Cameron thought that it felt good to be back to work making cupcakes. Things were actually quiet today and business was slow, which left Cameron with some thinking time. Pinkie Pie hadn't been around the shop for a while, which was bliss for Cameron. The pink pony was driving him mad.

_Maybe I could go see Fluttershy today. I hope she isn't busy. It would be great if that bunny wasn't with her today._

Just as he was about to leave the bakery and close it for the day, Rainbow Dash came through the front door.

"Hey, Facade! I haven't seen you for a while. Agile's gonna be here soon. Do you mind making just a few more cupcakes?" she asked.

"But I was just… I was gonna… never mind. Fine." Cameron said as he put his apron back on.

**At the apartment…**

Mike was worn out from his day. After the whole Poison Joke fiasco, he had teleported back to Rarity's boutique. As he had walked in, he could hear Rarity humming as she worked on her new dresses. She greeted Mike with a long hug and asked where he had been.

"It's a long story. I'd rather not talk about it." Mike had said.

Aside from his usual work of duplicating gems, he had found interest in talking to Sweetie Belle. Unlike her sister, she was incredibly random and seemed to have a never ending supply of energy. She would walk up to him and ask a variety of questions for no apparent reason.

When he wasn't doing that or working, he would just come up next to Rarity and talk with her.

After work, he went back to the apartment to go and check up on Princess Luna. He had feared earlier that she might have awoken because he had lost his horn and magic.

As he walked through the door, the first thing he noticed was that Luna was shivering. He scanned the room for a blanket, but found none.

He then remembered that he had sent the sheets to be cleaned. He did this so that all trace of the Poison Joke was gone.

All of a sudden, Luna woke, much to the surprise of Mike.

"Who are thou?" Luna exclaimed.

_How is she awake?_

Mike concentrated on his magic again, and Luna returned to her slumber.

_The spell must be weakening. Either that or she's finding a way to fight it. I'm going to need to check up on her more often so that she doesn't awaken while I'm out of the apartment._

Mike thought about how much longer he and his friends had until the Summer Sun Celebration.

_Three days. We just have to hold out for three more days._


	15. Calm before the storm

As Jake and Cameron walked into their apartment, the first thing they noticed was that Mike was sleeping in one of the beds.

Cameron thumped him on the head, causing Mike to drop to the floor in surprise.

"Can't I just get some peaceful sleep for once?" Mike asked, rubbing his head.

"Why are you sleeping in our room? That's just creepy." Cameron said.

"I have a perfectly good explanation for that." Mike said. "When I got here to check up on Princess Luna, she had woken up all of a sudden. I managed to put her back to sleep, but she's smehow finding a way to fight the spell or something."

"Can't you just make the spell stronger or whatever?" Cameron asked.

"I could, but I don't know if she'll find a way to break through that one as well. Not to mention that if I did use more magic, I'd be even more exhausted."

"So, what's the plan?" Jake asked.

"Well, as long as I stay here, I'll be able to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't wake up. " Mike answered.

"You can't stay in here forever. You have a job." Jake said.

"That's the crappy part. But, it's too risky to leave her alone." Mike said with a sigh.

The trio stared at the sleeping Princess Luna.

"I guess that's to be expected when you're dealing with a princess. She's much more resilient than normal ponies. Princess Celestia will be even harder to deal with." Mike said.

"Wait, what? What do you mean by that?" Cameron said confused.

"She was captured by Nightmare Moon on the TV show."

"Okay then. How are you gonna pull that off?"

"Seeing as how she is basically the most powerful magic user in Equestria, it probably won't be very easy."

"Sucks to be you." Cameron said.

"Well at least I-"Mike started. He was interrupted by grumbling coming from Luna.

Mike focused his magic and she stopped.

"God, that's the third time today. Now do you see why I need to keep an eye on her?"

"Yep." Cameron and Jake said in unison.

Mike yawned. "I'm going to try and get some sleep. I'll take Luna over to my room. Good night."

**The Next Morning…**

Cameron and Jake left early and insisted that Mike try and save his energy. He was bored out of his mind and there seemed to be no way of entertaining himself. He couldn't waste his magic on experimenting with spells.

In addition to all that, Mike felt almost as if he was sick. He guessed it was a mixture of anxiousness, sleep deprivation, and his magic use. Luna was proving difficult.

_Her freaking subconscious is fighting the spell. She actually has no idea what's going on. _Mike thought.

He sighed. He had gotten little to no sleep the night before. Even a powerful magic user like him had limits. He was still recovering from the Nightmare encounter and his magic was now being drained away quickly by repeating the sleeping spell.

_I don't think I can last much longer. _Mike said as he nearly fell asleep. He forced himself to stay awake.

"Screw it. I'm strengthening the spell." He finally said. He had no idea if this one would hold better than the one before, but he had to try.

He focused his magic for over five seconds before finally ending the spell. He looked at Luna. She seemed much more peaceful now.

_Oh, God. I can finally get some sleep. _He slumped back onto his bed and passed out.

**Outskirts of Ponyville…**

"Why are you afraid of the Everfree Forest?" Cameron asked Fluttershy.

"It's very strange in there, Facade. The plants all grown by themselves and the animals live without being cared for. All kinds of monsters are supposed to be in there!" Fluttershy answered, becoming more scared as she mentioned the last part.

"It's not so bad in there. It's just a little… dark." Cameron said. "I've been in there."

"Really? Why?" Fluttershy asked.

_Why in the world would anypony walk into that scary forest? _She thought.

"Um, I was just doing some exploring. There really isn't too much in there except trees and some small animals."

"Wow. I could never do that." Fluttershy said as she looked at the ground.

Cameron tried to change the subject. "How is your bird choir? "

Fluttershy perked up. "Do you want to listen to them?"

"Of course I do." Cameron replied. In an instant, the entire group of birds was assembled.

After a few minutes of music, Cameron said, "It's amazing."

"Thank you very much." She replied. An awkward silence ensued.

"Facade, may I ask you a question?" Fluttershy asked suddenly.

"Sure."

"How long are you staying in Ponyville? I know you said you and your friends were traveling so…" Her voice trailed off.

_Good question. The Celebration is in two days. _Cameron felt a sting of regret. He realized that when he left, he wouldn't be seeing Fluttershy ever again.

"I… don't know." He finally said.

_Oh crap. Some part of me actually wants to stay here._

**At the field…**

"Agh!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she was launched backwards from another failed attempt at a Sonic Rainboom.

"Come on, you can do it! Third time's the charm!" Agile encouraged from below. They had been at this for over an hour and Rainbow was getting tired.

She tried once more, flying straight up into the air and then diving. She sped up as she flew down and the wind made her eyes tear up. As she dove down, all she thought about was Agile's cheering. After their fight, Agile wanted to make sure that Rainbow Dash could make a Sonic Rainboom whenever she wanted to. He assured her that she would become a Wonderbolt in no time if she worked hard at it.

Rainbow Dash was so busy thinking about Agile, she hadn't realized that she had already broken the sound barrier.

"Yes! That was awesome!" Agile cheered. Rainbow Dash proceeded to make a variety of loops and other trick, causing a rainbow trail to fill the sky. After she had finished showing off, she flew straight to Agile and tackled him.

"That's the Rainbow Dash I know and love." Agile said. He gulped at the last word.

"Love?" Rainbow Dash asked, blushing and with a surprised look on her face.

_Damn it! Damn you, brain! You're always making me say stuff at the wrong times! _Jake thought.

They both stared at each other, both of their faces red.

"…Yes." Jake finally said. As soon as he said it, Rainbow Dash kissed him.

_Never mind._

**At the apartments…**

Mike woke with a start. He reflexively made sure that Luna was still asleep. Amazingly, she was. Mike glanced at the clock. He had been asleep for over twelve hours.

_Twelve hours? Yep she's not waking up anytime soon. Even better, I got twelve hours of sleep._

He got out of the bed and stretched. One of Mike's first thoughts was that he could now visit Rarity over at her boutique. However, it was already late in the afternoon, which meant he didn't have a whole lot of time.

His second thought was that tomorrow was the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. He groaned. He would be working harder than ever tomorrow. He carefully laid out the plan in his mind, going over every last detail.

_First thing is obviously going to have to be setting up base at the castle ruins. I should make sure I have all the snacks and drinks ready. Then, I have to kidnap Princess Celestia. The rest of the plan is pretty straightforward._

His thoughts were interrupted by knocking at his door.

"Keen?" the voice inquired.

_Shit, it's Rarity. Got to hide Luna._

He focused his magic and teleported Luna to Jake and Cameron's room. He walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hello, Miss Rarity." He said.

"Where were you today? Are you ill?" Rarity asked, concerned.

"Yes. I felt a little sick this morning. I'm sorry I didn't let you know. I'm feeling better now."

"Oh, good." Rarity said. "I was wondering if you would accompany me to the Summer Sun Celebration."

"Of course I will." Mike said.

_If I'm not already gone._ He thought.

"How are the decorations coming along?" He asked, trying to get his mind off the subject.

"I completely forgot! I still need to beautify the main hall and the balcony! Goodbye, Keen!" she said as she rushed out of the room.

Mike sighed and teleported Luna back into his room.

"I need more sleep." Mike said, a feeling of tiredness coming over him.

**At the field…**

Scootaloo had always been a fan of Rainbow Dash. Ever since she first saw her hero in action, she had wanted to be just like her. She was cool, fast, and awesome. She, like many others who loved her as much as she did, knew rumors of her being able to make a Sonic Rainboom.

Scootaloo never doubted that she could. After all, she was Rainbow Dash.

She had taken a habit of following Rainbow Dash around. Lately, she had been hanging around somepony named Agile. She had no idea why Rainbow Dash decided to hang out with him. She didn't see anything special about him.

She watched Rainbow Dash from behind a tree. When she saw the Sonic Rainboom, she silently squealed in admiration. However, when she saw Rainbow Dash kiss Agile, she averted her eyes.

"You are so awesome." Agile said to Rainbow Dash. "Even I can't make a Sonic Rainboom. Only a regular sonic boom."

"Yeah, but you're still faster and can do all sorts of amazing things." Rainbow Dash replied.

_What? Somepony's faster than Rainbow Dash? That's impossible! _Scootaloo thought.

"I'm sure that you'll be just as fast as me someday." Agile said.

"Nopony's better than Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo yelled.

Agile looked at the tree Scootaloo was hiding behind.

"Who was that?" he asked.

"I don't know." Rainbow Dash said.

Scootaloo readied her scooter and was about to jet off when Agile came out of nowhere. He _was_ fast.

"Aah!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Care to explain why you were spying on us?" he asked calmly.

"I wasn't spying, I was watching. And I wasn't watching you, I was watching Rainbow Dash." She retorted.

"I'm guessing you're her biggest fan then." Agile said with a smile.

"You bet! Nopony's better than Rainbow Dash." She said.

"Yeah. You said that a few seconds ago." Agile said as he rolled his eyes.

"What's going on? Scootaloo? What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew over to the tree.

"I was just… you know…" Scootaloo said hesitantly.

"Spying." Agile said, finishing her sentence for her.

"Scootaloo, I told you a week ago to stop following me around. It's getting on my nerves." Rainbow Dash said.

"Sorry."

"I think it's kind of cute." Agile said with a smile.

"I'm going, I'm going." Scootaloo said as she zipped away on her scooter.

"Sorry about that." Rainbow Dash said.

"No problem. She says she's your biggest fan. You should try hanging out with her." Agile said.

Rainbow Dash thought about it.

"I'm glad that I was able to spend the day with you. Sadly, I have to go. See you later." Agile said as he flew away.

"Bye." Rainbow Dash said.

**At the apartment…**

As Cameron walked in the door, he was greeted by Jake and Mike.

"He's here. Awesome." Mike said.

"Good news, Mike was able to strengthen the spell on Luna. We should be fine now." Jake said.

"I guess that's good."

"You still don't know what we're doing, do you?"

"I get most of it." Cameron said defensively

"All right. Tomorrow's the big day. Better get some sleep." Mike said. "I know I need to."

**A/N**

**Next Chapters will be awesome! Read and review and Favorite.**

**End A/N**


	16. And so it begins

**At the Royal Castle…**

Princess Celestia was preparing herself for that evening. She knew, like her pupil Twilight Sparkle, that this night would be the one where Nightmare Moon would finally break free from her banishment on the moon.

Celestia had observed all the signs for weeks. She had been worried when the moon had reverted to its normal, faceless state. However, she was even more surprised when it came back only hours later. It simply didn't make any sense.

_Why would Nightmare Moon break free of her prison and then return to it? _She thought.

She had sent Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville only an hour ago. If her plan worked out, Twilight would make friends with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. She felt a small amount of worry for her student, but she brushed it aside. Her plan could _not _fail. Luna would be with her once more.

She smiled at the thought of having her little sister back after so long.

**At Ponyville…**

"How much time do we have?" Cameron asked Mike as the trio walked around Ponyville.

"Hard to tell. I'm guessing a few hours before we should head out to the abandoned Castle. We still need to get snacks and stuff. It's going to be a long night." Mike answered.

"Do you think Twilight's here yet?" Jake asked.

"She probably is. It looks like the right time of day." Mike said. "On an un-related note, if either of you have loose ends to tie up, now's the time."

"'Loose ends' meaning what exactly?" Cameron asked.

"Well, you know. A certain pony who lives in the outskirts of town." Mike said smugly.

"How do you know about that?" Cameron said, his face turning a light shade of red.

"Dude, you do realize that you talk in your sleep? You either talk about Fluttershy or some random Call of Duty crap." Jake said. Both Mike and Jake chuckled.

"By the way, who is that camper you always mutter about?" Jake asked.

"I'd rather not talk about that noobtube-using idiot." Cameron said.

"There's nothing wrong with the grenade launcher."

"There's _everything _wrong with the grenade launcher, Jake. Everything." Cameron said.

"Whatever. I'm going to find Rainbow Dash." Jake said.

"Remember to be at the apartment in the next hour." Mike said.

"Don't worry." Jake said as he flew off.

"I'll be back later, too. I'm gonna go see Fluttershy." Cameron said as he ran off.

"But I still need help with getting all the stuff!" Mike yelled after him.

"I'm sure you can handle it!" Cameron yelled back.

Mike let out a deep sigh. A half hour later, he had finally had a full supply of apples, soda pop, and cupcakes. He teleported all of the stuff to the apartment and headed over to the Town Square pavilion.

As he walked up to the building, he saw a purple unicorn walk out along with a small, purple and green dragon.

_So she's already been here. All that's left for her to do is checkup on Fluttershy. We need to leave here soon._

Mike didn't have a whole lot of time left, so he hurried inside. He took notice that many ribbons and banners were flung around. There was a red curtain at the far end of the room where Rarity was. He walked up her.

"Hello, Miss Rarity." Mike said.

"Oh, thank goodness you're here! I need your opinion on which streamer I should use." Rarity said, levitating some ribbons. "Blue or purple?"

"I don't exactly have a sense of fashion." Mike answered.

"I just want your honest opinion." Rarity said.

"Blue."

After numerous questions on the decorum, Mike finally had to say goodbye. He walked out of the pavilion and teleported to the apartment. The other two were already there when he arrived.

"There he is, finally." Cameron said. "Sure took you long enough."

"I got side-tracked. You two ready?" Mike asked. They both nodded. "Alright, here we go."

Mike's horn glowed for an instant and the trio was gone.

**At the Town Square Pavilion (four hours later)…**

Princess Celestia waited in the balcony overlooking the main hall of the pavilion. She became anxious as the stars moved closer to the moon. She could imagine that her pupil was even more anxious, if not terrified.

In moments, the stars finally reached the moon, causing the face to vanish.

_It is time. _She thought.

"…to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!"

She felt magic starting to envelop her. She tried fighting the teleportation spell, but the magic wouldn't let up. As the curtains began to open, Princess Celestia instantly found herself somewhere completely different. A stone wall stood tall behind her. She noticed there was a lot of foliage and trees through the gaping holes of the walls.

"Okay, got her." Said a voice, not too far away.

"See, that wasn't so hard." Said another voice.

"Easy for you to say. She put up a bit of a fight." Replied the first voice. She watched as a unicorn with a tan body and startling green eyes walk out into the open.

"Hello, Princess Celestia. I'm Mike and this is Jake and Cameron." He motioned to the two other ponies.

"Hey, I'm Cameron." Said the earth pony with the black mane and brown body.

"I'm Jake." Said the pegasus with ginger mane and light brown body.

"Sorry to pull you from the Celebration, but it needed to be done. As you can see, there is a force field around you." Mike said.

"Which means you're basically our prisoner." Cameron said with a smile.

"She's not really a prisoner, she's more like a… you know what, that's actually right." Jake said.

"Like I was saying, we will explain everything later. In the mean time, try to get comfortable. This is going to take awhile." Mike said as he walked off. "All right. Here goes phase two of the plan."

The unicorn's horn glowed for an instant and he began speaking.

**At the Town Square Pavilion…**

Twilight Sparkle was frightened. The princess was nowhere to be seen and the moon was now faceless. Even worse, a swirl of dark energy was swirling around the building.

"Oh no… Nightmare Moon!"

She saw Spike faint as he saw Nightmare Moon begin to appear. She didn't blame him.

"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces." Nightmare Moon said.

"What did you do with our Princess?" Rainbow Dash questioned as she bolted towards Nightmare.

"Whoa there, Nelly." Applejack said as she grabbed Rainbow Dash's tail with her teeth.

Nightmare chuckled. "Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?"

Pinkie Pie must have thought of it as a legitimate question. "Ooh, ooh, more guessing games! Um, Hokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty-"

She was silenced quickly with a cupcake in her mouth.

"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"I did. And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Night Mare Moon!" Twilight spoke, her voice losing confidence.

"Well well well. Somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here."

Twilight had lost almost the confidence I her voice. "You're here to... to..."

Nightmare Moon laughed once more. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!"

The dark energy began to swirl around her once more and she zipped out of the building.

**At the Castle Ruins…**

"Whew. Okay. Phase two is complete. Cameron, go and work out your part." Mike said.

"Gotcha." Cameron said as he ran out.

"What is going on? Are you minions of Nightmare Moon? Do you really think that your evil magic can keep me from saving my subjects?" Princess Celestia said as she attacked the force field containing her with her magic.

"First off, I don't think you'll be able to break through that barrier. If Cameron can't punch through it, nothing can." Mike said, looking rather amused. "Second, no. We are not minions of Nightmare Moon. We actually defeated her awhile ago."

"You think that you can beat the most powerful magic user in Equestria? Dude, I think you're overestimating yourself." Jake said.

"I'm seriously thinking about it." Mike said.

"_You _defeated Nightmare Moon? That's not possible, only the Elements of Harmony can do that." Princess Celestia said in disbelief.

_Who are these ponies? How could they possibly have the power to defeat Nightmare Moon?_

A thought suddenly popped in her head.

"Where is my sister, Luna?" she asked concerned.

"Don't worry she's right over there, sleeping. You'll be able to talk with her later. I still need to explain everything that's going on to you." Mike said impatiently.

"What do you mean?"

"Believe it or not, my friends and I aren't from here. We're not actually ponies. We were transported here two weeks ago. We're human."

"Human?" Princess Celestia asked.

_Humans don't exist. They are convoluted creatures created by storytellers from long ago._

"Yes. Jake and I are what people back home would call 'Bronies" because we know all about you and Equestria. We know about Nightmare Moon, the Elements of Harmony, and the ponies who represent them."

"Our friend Cameron, however, is not." Jake piped up.

"As I was saying earlier, we were transported here against our will. About a week ago, we all found out that we had special powers here. Jake is able to do impossible things with his flying. Cameron is stronger than anypony here in Equestria and I can do impossible things with magic."

_Wait. They all can do impossible things with magic, speed, and strength. Are they… no, they can't possibly be it._

"What exactly have you been doing while you have been here?" Celestia asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh nothing much. Destroying the Space-Time Continuum of your world. Normal stuff." Mike answered sarcastically.

"More seriously, we messed up how Nightmare Moon is defeated. That's why we kidnapped you. We're trying to recreate what should have happened."

**In the Everfree Forest…**

"Manticore. Manticore. Where would I find a manticore?" Cameron said as he walked around. Jake and Mike had told him that a manticore was part scorpion, part lion, and part bat. He didn't think one would be too hard to find.

Luckily he stumbled across one in a clearing, licking its paw. Cameron made sure he had the thorn Mike gave him and rushed towards the beast. Before it could react, Cameron jabbed the thorn hard into its paw.

The creature let loose an extremely loud scream of pain. It was about to smack Cameron with its paw, but Cameron dodged. For good measure, Cameron kicked the beast in the face, causing it even more pain and pissing it off even more.

Before the manticore could fight back, Cameron had already been teleported back to the castle ruins.

"Good work, Cam. We were watching the whole thing." Mike said.

"Wait, how?" Cameron asked.

Mike pointed to a wall. On the wall were over a dozen squares, each showing a different part of the Everfree Forest.

"Awesome. Do you know what this mean? It's kind of like watching TV!" Cameron said gleefully.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Jake said. "All we need is a couch."

"And snacks." Cameron added.

"Don't worry. I got apples, soda, cupcakes."

"I would do anything for a bag of beef jerky." Cameron said, his mouth watering.

"Ponies don't eat meat, idiot." Jake said as he sat down on the stone floor.

"I'm just glad that they have soda here. However, it tastes like crap." Cameron said, taking a cupcake from one of the boxes.

Princess Celestia watched in pure puzzlement. These ponies were definitely not from this world. Everything they said and did was strange. And yet, they seemed to know what they were doing.

"Mike, I need to tell you and your friends something." She said.

"What?"

"From what I can gather, you are telling the truth. You are not from here and there is very little that I can understand about you. However, there is something that I do know."

"Don't keep me in suspense." Cameron said, taking a bite from his cupcake.

"You three are gifted with special powers that are only mentioned about in legend. You three are the Heroes of Strength, Skill and Will." She said.

The trio looked at her for a moment and then Jake asked what they were all thinking.

"What the hell are you talking about?"


	17. New Knowledge

"Isn't it obvious?" Celestia asked. "Cameron is the Hero of Strength, Mike is the Hero of Will, and Jake is the Hero of Skill."

"Care to elaborate on that?" Cameron asked.

"Certainly. The Heroes are the manifestations of certain qualities that make a being unique. For example, the Hero of Strength would obviously be one who has amazing physical power and endurance."

"And the other two?" Mike said, genuinely intrigued about what Celestia was saying.

"The Hero of Will is a being that has incredible mental abilities and willpower, hence the name. The Hero is literally able to bend reality to his whim, as long as they have the mindset to do so."

She turned to Jake.

"The Hero of Skill is somewhat more complicated. A simple version is that the Hero is able to refine a certain aspect of himself to the point where it is perfect or almost perfect. In this case, he has perfected his speed. However he could do much more if he chose to."

"What do you mean by much more?" Jake asked.

"The Hero of Skill can perfect the trait that he is most talented in. I'm guessing that in your world, you were rather fast."

Jake nodded.

"Although you can only perfect your speed, you are actually more skilled in numerous tasks than other beings."

"You lost me." Cameron said.

"I think I get it. This may be an extreme example, though. What she's saying is that if Jake had never diffused a bomb in his life, and I mean he had absolutely no knowledge on the subject, he would have a better chance at diffusing it than other people because he is the Hero of Skill." Mike said.

"My head hurts." Cameron said.

"Try not to think about it then, idiot. Your power is simple enough as it is." Mike said.

"Your powers are not without drawbacks, however. Although you have strengths, there are many weaknesses that you have to overcome. The Hero of Strength may have brute strength and finesse in combat, but he lacks subtlety and is somewhat predictable in his actions."

"That pretty much sums up Cameron." Mike snickered.

"You didn't think that when I pranked you with the Troll Plant." Cameron said. Mike went silent.

"The Hero of Will is intelligent and analytical, but is unpredictable, headstrong, and overconfident. The Hero of Skill is creative and is able to plan for every possible scenario, but he overlooks details and is likely to dwell on the bad aspects of something."

"Wow. That actually… sounds like us." Jake said.

"The Heroes are strong on their own, but can be easily defeated if their weaknesses are known. This is why Heroes will usually become friends. Each Hero is able to balance the other." Celestia finished her explanation. "I could tell you three were the ones because of your Cutie Marks."

"What?" The three asked.

"The red circle represents will, yellow represents skill, and blue represents strength."

"Wow. I thought they were just stupid circles." Cameron said, looking at his flank.

They all stood there, saying nothing and thinking about what they just heard.

"It has been millennia since Heroes arrived in Equestria. They are known to very few because they are not recorded in any text or document. It is a pleasure to meet you three, even if it is under strange circumstances." Celestia said.

"Same here." Jake said.

"Alright, people. We need to get back on track. If I'm guessing correctly, the Mane 6 should be around the area of the sea serpent guy. I'll get this done quickly." Mike said as he focused his magic for a few seconds.

Jake and Cameron watched one of the magical displays that showed the sea serpent. He seemed to be minding his own business, combing his hair. The friends watched as Mike forcibly used his magic to rip of part of his mustache.

"What? No! Come back, my precious mustache!" The sea serpent cried. However, it was too late; the part of his mustache was already teleported downriver a few hundred miles.

Cameron looked at the beast with pure shock. He shook his head and said, "He seems really…"

"Flamboyant?" Jake offered.

"I was going to say something else, but that works too." Cameron said.

A few minutes later, they watched as the Mane 6 approached the now wailing sea serpent. Cameron was incredibly annoyed at the sea serpent's tantrum. They all watched as Rarity cut off her tail and gave it to the sea serpent.

Jake suddenly realized something. "Hey, Cameron. You do realize that you are inadvertently watching an episode of My Little Pony."

Cameron's eyes widened. "No! Damn it!" he exclaimed.

"Will you two shut it? It's almost time for the Rainbow Dash test." Mike said.

"Oh yeah, Mike. I was meaning to talk to you about that. Seeing as we already messed up a bunch of stuff, I was thinking that maybe we could tweak the whole Rainbow Dash test." Jake said.

"Meaning?"

"Instead of some hokey Shadowbolts, how about you send me in there. It would be a little more difficult for her. "

"That may work. What do you want to do exactly?" Mike asked.

**In the Everfree Forest…**

"Now what?" Pinkie Pie asked as the six ponies looked across the broken bridge that would lead them to the Castle.

Rainbow Dash showed off her wings to Pinkie Pie. "Duh."

"Oh, yeah!"

Rainbow Dash flew to the broken rope that used to support the bridge, and brought to the other side. As she was about to tie the rope, she heard a voice call out to her.

"Rainbow Dash…" the voice said. It sounded familiar to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash noticed that fog was starting to cover the area. It became so thick that she could barely see her friends on the other side.

"Rainbow Dash…" the voice said ominously. Then its tone changed. "You know what, I'm just gonna skip this part."

Rainbow Dash saw Agile walk out of the fog.

"Hi!" he said.

"Wait, Agile? What are you doing here?" She asked, confused.

"I was flying around looking for Nightmare Moon. I found her over by that Castle. I tried to stop her, but she beat me. Get this, she told me that I could save one pony from her of my choosing. I picked you. All you have to do is leave the others behind."

"What? I can't leave my friends. Besides, Nightmare Moon is evil, Agile. She kidnapped Princess Celestia!"

"I'm sorry, but I can only save one pony. Come on, Rainbow. She's too strong for you all. I couldn't stop her, what makes you think you can."

_This doesn't sound like the real Agile. He would never say that._

"You're acting strange, Agile. How do I know you aren't some trick made by Nightmare Moon?" Rainbow Dash said, keeping her wits about her.

Agile inspected himself. "Nope. I'm pretty sure that I'm me."

"I can't leave my friends. They need me."

"What about me, Rainbow Dash? _I _need you. I don't want Nightmare Moon to hurt you." Agile said with what seemed to be sincere concern on his face.

Twilight, even though she was on the other side of the ridge, could tell that something was wrong.

"Rainbow Dash, what's taking so long?" she asked. As soon as she asked, the fog became thicker and engulfed the entire ridge.

_This must be one of Nightmare Moon's illusions! She's trying to keep Rainbow Dash from fixing the bridge._

"Don't listen to him, Rainbow Dash! He's not real!" Twilight said. However, Rainbow could only just make out her words.

"It's either them or me, Rainbow." Agile said.

"I'm so sorry. I just can't." Rainbow Dash said. Agile turned away and flew off.

Rainbow Dash had to struggle to keep herself from crying.

_That wasn't the real Agile. That wasn't the real Agile. _She kept telling herself as she fixed the bridge. She flew across to her friends, creating a clearing in the fog.

"Woo! Rainbow Dash!" her friends cheered. She smiled in return but said nothing else.

As they walked across, Twilight said to Rainbow Dash, "Thanks, Rainbow Dash."

"I'd never leave my friends hanging." Rainbow replied with a confident smile.

**At the Castle…**

"Yep. She's the Element of Loyalty, all right." Jake said as he walked back into the room.

"That was good acting on your part. I honestly didn't think she was going to say no." Mike said.

"Why exactly did you do that?" Cameron asked.

Jake thought about it for a moment. "I mainly did it so that I could see how much I really meant to her. Apparently, a lot."

"No kidding. Well, anyway, it worked. The six should be at the room with the Elements right about… now." Mike said as he pointed at the viewer that showed the Mane Six walking into the room directly below them.

**Element Room…**

"One, two, three, four... There's only five!" Pinkie Pie said as she counted all the Elements of Harmony. Each one was a spherical stone with a different shape on them.

"Where's the Sixth?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The book said: _when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed_" Twilight said.

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" asked Applejack.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back. I don't know what will happen." Twilight warned as she walked up to the Elements and began focusing her magic on making the spark.

"Come on now, y'all. Twilight needs to concentrate." Applejack said as she and the rest of the ponies left the room.

Twilight opened her eyes after minutes of concentration and saw that the Elements were being sucked into some sort of small vortex.

"Aah!" She yelped in surprise.

"Twilight!" everypony yelled from outside when they heard her shriek.

Just as the Vortex was about to vanish, Twilight jumped into it. It had turned out to be some kind of teleportation spell.

Twilight coughed as she landed on the stone floor. She opened her eyes and saw that the Elements were in a circle around Nightmare Moon.

**The room above…**

_We're almost done. _Mike thought.

He watched as Twilight stamped her hoof as if she were going to charge like a bull. Mike tried to remember the what Nightmare Moon said next.

_Ugh, this is really testing my brony knowledge_

"You're kidding_. _You're kidding, right?" Mike said, remembering.

When he said that, Twilight charged at his illusion of Nightmare with her horn glowing. Mike made the illusion do the same. Just before the two were about to collide, Twilight teleported behind Nightmare.

"Come

"Just one spark. Come on, come on!" Twilight said before the Elements blasted her away in a flash of energy. The spheres began to exchange numerous electrical currents.

Mike tried to keep his voice sounding genuine, but he was getting bored.

"No, no!" the illusion said. The currents suddenly stopped.

"But… where's the sixth Element?" Twilight asked to nopony in particular.

Mike pulled of his best mocking laugh and smashed all the Elements. "You little foal! Thinking you could defeat _me_? Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night will last forever!"

As he finished talking, all the rest of the Mane Six burst in

"You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here." Twilight said with newfound confidence.

The shards began to levitate as the illusion asked, "What?"

"Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!" Twilight said. As soon as she mentioned honesty, the shards began to orbit Applejack.

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness! Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter! Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity! And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty! The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us." Twilight finished.

Mike was getting a headache. He already knew all of this and he just wanted to fast-forward through this.

"You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!"

"But it did! A different kind of spark. I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside _me_ when I realized that you all are my _friends_. You see, Night Mare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of magic."

All of a sudden, Twilight's eyes turned white and the Mane Six was surrounded by a vortex of rainbows.

"No!" Mike said, relieved that it was finally over.

However, he didn't expect one thing. As the rainbow engulfed the illusion of Nightmare Moon, pain erupted all across Mike's body.

_Oh shit! Make it stop! _He thought as the pain began to increase. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. As quick as it had come, the pain subsided.

"Mike!" Jake and Cameron said as they rushed to their friend's side.

"What the hell happened?" Jake asked.

"The… the rainbow from the Elements… it… it hurt like hell!" Mike stammered, trying to regain his balance.

He turned to the viewer. The entire Mane Six was on the floor, unconscious.

"Look, I'm fine. Princess, the girls will be waking up soon. I'm teleporting Luna up there now. You can leave the force field now." Mike said as he focused his magic. Luna disappeared, as did the force field.

"I will speak with you all again when this is all over." Celestia said as she disappeared.

Mike felt like he was going to throw up.

"Losing consciousness in three… two…" Mike said. He was already knocked out before he reached one.

**Hours later…**

Mike woke to the feeling of soft bedding beneath him. He opened his eyes saw that he was in a large whitebedroom. Sunlight poured from the large open window. He also saw that his friends were sitting in chairs directly across from him. Along with them were Princess Celestia and a now conscious Princess Luna.

"About time you woke up." Cameron said with a smile.

"How long was I out?" Mike asked, rubbing his eyes.

"A solid fifteen hours." Jake said. "Princess Celestia and Luna want to talk with us."

"I'm all ears." Mike said, getting up and out of bed.

"I understand that you three are the Heroes my sister was talking about. I must first thank you for defeating Nightmare Moon and redeeming me."

"Glad to help, princess." Jake said.

"You were the one who was scolding me for doing that in the first place, idiot!" Mike exclaimed.

"Well you weren't supposed to, so who's the idiot now?" Jake retorted.

"Both of you." Cameron said with a laugh.

Luna was intrigued by the way these friends acted.

"They have a strange way of showing friendship, don't they Tia?" Luna said to her older sister.

Celestia merely smiled.

"When are we gonna get back home?" Cameron asked out of the blue. This had been the question Celestia had been dreading to answer.

"I'm very sorry, you three. I don't have the magic that would be able to send you back to your world."

The three stood there, their mouths agape.

"Bullshit!" Cameron said angrily, breaking off the awkward silence.

"Cameron! Language! We're in front of princesses you dunce!" Mike scolded.

"I'm sorry, but what the hell?" Cameron said, becoming increasingly frustrated. "Was this all for nothing?"

"I never said I didn't have a solution." Celestia said calmly. "Although I don't have the power to send you back, there may be different ways of sending you back."

"Meaning?" Cameron asked, regaining his composure.

"The Royal Canterlot Library is full of ancient texts. However, they are off limits to everypony except to Princess Luna and me. There are many that even I haven't read. These texts could provide you with the knowledge needed to return. I will allow you three to access these records on one condition." Celestia said.

"What is it?" Mike asked.

"Although the Elements of Harmony exist, there are many evils in Equestria that I fear may find a way to overpower the Elements. I ask you three to be guardians of Equestria, should it ever need you."

Celestia was surprised when all three of them instantly said, "Yes!"

"If it means getting us back home, I'll definitely do it." Cameron said.

"Thank you." Celestia said with a smile. "Mike, I assume that you will be the one searching through the Library?"

"Yep." Mike answered.

"I will tell the guards to allow you through whenever you need to." Celestia said. "The Summer Sun Celebration is still going on. You three might want to take part in it."

"Sounds good to me." Jake said.

"I'll go if there's cake." Cameron said.

"All right. Goodbye Princesses!" Mike said as he teleported himself and his friends away.

"They seem nice, Tia." Luna said with a smile. "Strange, but nice."

"Indeed they do." Celestia replied.

**A/N **

**Wow! And so ends Part I! Yep, you heard me right, there is going to be more! As of now, I will take all ideas for chapters! Wooo! Overexcitement! Just PM me your ideas and I'll get back to you!**

**As always, Read, Review, and Favorite!**

**End A/N**


	18. One Week Later

Mike sighed as he combed through what seemed to be a never ending room of books and documents. He had been at this for more than a week now, and he wasn't getting much help from his friends.

Over the past week, the town of Ponyville had gone through some drama. Two days after the "defeat" of Nightmare Moon, Twilight had received two tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala. The problem was, she couldn't figure out whom to give them two. As the day played out, all of Ponyville became obsessed with getting the second ticket. All except Mike, Jake, and Cameron.

They went about the day as if were any other, ignoring the crowds that swarmed over Twilight. In truth, they couldn't care less. They had already received their tickets the day prior.

More drama followed two days later when it came time for Applebuck season. Applejack began to lose more and more sleep every day. Mike had wanted to help her, but he had been already trying to treat his own sleep deprivation.

Applejack had refused help for a solid three days before finally giving in and letting her friends help her. This had included Jake and Cameron. Mike realized that he hadn't really been in Ponyville for quite some time. Twilight had only barely met him and he hadn't shown of to work at Rarity's in days.

Mike decided it was time to take a break. Before he left the room, he made a mental checklist of some of the things he had already read.

_Starswirl the Bearded's Complete Works on the Dimensions, Advanced Time Distortion, and Mass Teleportation: Book One. _

A lot of the books he read were mainly for either his amusement or so that he could learn new magic. It took all of his mental discipline to not try the Time Distortion spell, for fear of what might happen if he used it.

"Guard, I'm leaving. You can lock the room up now." Mike said as he walked out of the room and teleported away.

When he arrived in Ponyville an instant later, he saw Jake running up to him.

"Thank God, you're here. It's horrible! They're driving me nuts!" Jake exclaimed.

"What do you… Oh. Today's _that _day, huh?" Mike said as he facehoofed. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were having their first ever pranking spree. They of course had pranked numerous ponies before, but they had never joined forces before.

Mike shuddered at what the two were capable of.

"What did they do to you, specifically." Mike asked Jake.

"They tried a bunch of stuff, but they haven't gotten me yet. It's only a matter of time before I slip up, though. They've already tried putting hot sauce in my cupcake. Cameron actually fell for it." Jake said.

"What happened to him?" Mike asked.

"It was the weirdest thing. He just commented on how the cupcake tasted funny. Nothing else." Jake said.

"I'm guessing he's either too ignorant to realize it or he has taste buds of steel." Mike joked.

"You better look out for yourself, dude." Jake said as he flew away.

_I haven't been here a minute and things are already crazy. _Mike thought. _Maybe I should have stayed in Canterlot._

Mike suppressed the urge to return to Canterlot and headed towards Rarity's boutique. He heard sneezing come from inside.

"Are you sick, Miss Rarity?" Mike asked as he walked inside.

"Oh, Keen! It's you. I haven't seen you for days! Where have you been?" Rarity asked.

"I've been in Canterlot doing… stuff." Mike searched for the right word, but found none. The only ponies that knew about Mike and his friends being Heroes were the Princesses. He wasn't supposed to tell anypony about that.

"Canterlot? What kind of 'stuff' are you doing?" Rarity asked.

"Why do you want to know?" Keen asked back, trying to give himself time to think of an answer to her question.

"Canterlot is a city of refinement, beauty, and fashion. I've always wanted to go there. Did you know that Twilight used to live there?"

"Really? That's nice." Mike said.

"Back to my previous question, what are you doing in Canterlot?"

"Um… Princess Celestia has tasked me with looking through the Royal Archives and reporting my findings." Mike said.

_That's basically what I'm doing._

"If the Princess wanted you for the job, she must think very highly of you. Congratulations, Keen!" Rarity said as she hugged him.

"Now, why were you sneezing again?" Mike asked.

"It was a good natured prank, courtesy of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Try to keep your guard up, Keen. You may be next." Rarity smiled.

**The next day…**

Jake flew casually towards Rainbow Dash's home. Something at the edge of his mind was nagging at him saying that something was supposed to happen. Jake couldn't quite put his hoof on it.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Jake said as he hovered over the house. The door opened, but it wasn't Rainbow Dash that came out. Jake sighed when he saw who it was.

It was Gilda the Griffon, Rainbow Dash's friend from Junior Flight Camp.

_God, not her. I do _not _want to have deal with this today. _

Jake tried to keep a straight face.

"Hey, Agile!" Rainbow said as she came outside. "Gilda, this is my coltfriend, Agile."

"Hey, what's up?" Gilda said as if she were too cool for Jake.

"Dash, I was going to ask if you wanted to have a flying session, but I don't want to take you away from your friend." Jake said.

_Also because I don't think I'll last two seconds of her talking before smacking her upside the head._

"Don't worry about it. Gilda already wanted to have a flying session too. We can have one right now all together." Rainbow Dash said.

"I don't think he could keep up with us, Dash." Gilda said smugly.

Jake resisted the urge to laugh. However, he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

"I guess we'll find out." Jake said. Rainbow Dash picked up on what Agile was smiling about.

"Agile, no. Don't show off. Gilda's just being Gilda." Rainbow Dash said.

"No, I want to see what this guy can do." Gilda said. "Race me."

"Oh, gladly." Jake said. Rainbow Dash stopped him and gave him a rather serious look.

Jake recognized this to be the universal "stop-while-you're-ahead" signal and backed off.

"Come on, Rainbow. I won't try my hardest. Just let me put her in her place." Jake pleaded.

"Agile, stop. Gilda's just being competitive. If you can't be around her, leave." Rainbow Dash said.

Jake looked at Rainbow Dash then at Gilda, who at this point was giving off the cockiest smile imaginable.

"Ugh, fine. I'll see you later Rainbow." Jake said, defeated.

"What's his problem?" Gilda asked as she saw Agile fly away.

"Nothing." Rainbow Dash answered. "Wanna race?"

**Two hours later…**

"Come on, she can't be that bad." Cameron said as he walked with Jake over to the market.

"Think of her as that camper on Call of Duty that you always moan about. Then multiply it by ten." Jake said.

Cameron actually calculated it, much to Jake's amusement.

"Wow. That is bad." Cameron said. They neared the town market. It was bustling with activity, as always. Numerous stands filled the streets as dozens of ponies going about their business. Jake looked across the street and saw Gilda.

"Speak of the devil." Jake mumbled.

"Cheer up. Let me buy you an apple or something." Cameron said.

Jake didn't respond. He merely watched as Granny Smith, the grandmother of Applejack, smell some produce. Gilda had proceeded to place her tail in front of Granny Smith's face. The old mare went into panic.

"Gah! A rattl'r! Run fer the hills!" she yelped.

"That prank was just in bad taste." Cameron remarked as he shook his head disapprovingly.

"You don't do much better." Jake joked.

"Hey! When I pull a prank, it's funny as hell. That wasn't funny at all." Cameron retorted. FFrom the corner of his eye, he saw Fluttershy leading a group of ducks across the road.

"What are you…" Jake said as he found what Cameron was looking at. He knew what was going to happen next.

Gilda bumped into Fluttershy. "Hey!" Gilda shouted.

"Please excuse…" Fluttershy began.

"I'm walkin' here!"

"Oh… um… I'm sorry… I-I was just trying-" Fluttershy said timidly.

"'I'm sorry, I'm sorry!'" Gilda said, mocking Fluttershy's voice. "Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?"

"B-But I…I…" Fluttershy stammered.

Gild proceeded to let loose a full on animal-like roar, causing Fluttershy to start crying and fly away.

_Cameron's going to go ballistic… now._

"I will smack the living crap out of her, Jake! The beating will be _biblical_!" Cameron said, but not loudly enough that any other pony could hear. His voice dripped with malice.

_My God, he's really lost it. _

It took all of Jake's strength to keep Cameron from getting to Gilda. Even then, Cameron was quickly gaining ground. Cameron would have gotten to her if she hadn't flown away.

"Snap out of it! She'll get what she deserves soon enough." Jake said, trying to calm his friend down.

"How soon?" Cameron asked.

**Hours later…**

Mike walked into Sugarcube Corner and was greeted by Pinkie Pie. He thought that this would probably be a good time to relax and socialize. He saw Rarity talking with Applejack, so he decided not to interrupt them. He did, however, find Twilight standing over by the punch table with Spike and walked up to them.

"Hello, Twilight." Mike said with a smile.

"Oh, hello Keen! I haven't seen you or a while. Where have you been?" Twilight asked.

"In Canterlot, studying in the Royal Archives."

"Really? Only the most prestigious of scholars are able to see the Royal Archives. Princess Celestia must think highly of you." Twilight said.

"You could say that." Mike said as he poured himself a glass of punch. "It's nice to take a break from that once in awhile. It's also really good to see Rarity again."

Spike immediately reacted to Mike's statement. "What do you mean by that?"

"You know, I get to spend time with her, maybe take her on another date or something." Mike said.

"_You're _Rarity's coltfriend?" Spike asked.

_She could do so much better. Like me, for example. _Spike thought to himself.

"Problem?" Mike asked as he took a sip of punch.

Spike was about to answer when Pinkie Pie announced, "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville!"

_This'll be fun to watch._

"Vanilla Lemon Drops. Don't mind if I do." Gilda said as she popped one into her mouth. Mike laughed as her mouth spouted fire. "Hot!" she yelped.

"G, the punch!" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed Gilda to the table.

Gilda grabbed a glass and tipped it towards her, but the punch dribbled out the side. Mike glanced over to Cameron, who at this point was in a much better mood than before.

"Enjoying yourself?" Mike asked as he walked up to him.

"Immensely. Does it get better?" Cameron asked.

"Yep." Mike said as Gilda opened one of her "presents". A dozen Spitting Snakes burst from the container.

"Pssh. Weak." Cameron said. "Funny, but weak."

Jake walked over to his two friends after he finished talking with Twilight.

"I see that you're in a better mood, Cam." Jake said as Pinkie Pie rolled out a enormous cake.

Cameron's eyes lighted up. He watched as Gilda blew out the candles, only to find that they re-lighted. This cycle went on three or four times until Gilda was out of breath.

"Re-lighting birthday candles, I love that prank! What a classic." Spike said.

"I wonder who could have done that." Pinkie Pie said.

"Yeah, I wonder." Gilda said as she glared suspiciously at Pinkie Pie.

"Who cares? This cake is amazing!" Spike said as he burrowed into the cake.

Cameron's look of joy turned to complete sadness. "He's tainted the cake." He mumbled.

"I'm sure you can get a piece that he didn't touch, cheer up." Jake said.

After a few minutes of cake eating, Pinkie Pie announced that it was time for pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. Gilda, of course, thought it was another prank. She decided to walk in the exact opposite direction of the poster with the pony on it.

As she was walking, she slipped on some fallen cake and skidded into the kitchen. Cameron's immediate reaction was that he was going to have to clean it up. However, he felt it was worth it to see Gilda covered in frosting, sugar, and flour.

At this point, Gilda lost it. She berated Pinkie Pie for all of the "lame" pranks that had been pulled on her. As a surprise twist, Rainbow Dash admitted to setting up all of the pranks. A long argument ensued, ending with Gilda calling Rainbow Dash a "flip-flop".

"That's the worst insult I've ever heard." Cameron said.

"I have to agree with you on that one." Mike said.

Gilda flew off and the party resumed. Cameron walked over to Fluttershy.

"Are you okay?" Cameron asked.

"I'm feeling better now, Facade. Gilda was just _so _mean." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah. The bright side is that we probably won't be seeing her again. I'm sorry that I didn't come and try to help you earlier." Cameron said apologetically.

Fluttershy smiled.

"Do you want to play pin-the-tail-on-the-pony?" she asked.

"Sure, why not?" Cameron answered.

**Later that night…**

Mike found himself back at the Canterlot Archives yet again. As he finished another book on the subject of dragons, he noticed that in the far back, there was a dilapidated section. He guessed that it was old, perhaps as old as Celestia. Dust literally carpeted the floor. He walked over to one of the old bookshelves and grabbed a book titled: The Power of Chaos.

_Interesting title. _He thought as he blew the dust off the cover. He tried being gentle with the book, seeing as it was old and possibly fragile. He opened the book and began reading.

_In the times before Equestria, there were numerous and immensely powerful evils in the world. However, the most powerful of the lot was a draconequus named Discord. Discord had the power to change reality to his whim. This magic, unlike unicorn magic, is thought to be much more powerful and has no limitations. (See Chapter 7 for more information on Chaos' Capibilites) Instead of having the confines of spells, Chaos is controlled only by the wielder's own imagination and morals._

"Kick ass magic, huh?" Mike said to himself. He read on.

_Theoretically, Chaos could affect entire worlds or dimensions if the user's power is great enough. (See Chapter 13 for more information.) _

_That's all I needed to know. Thank you, mysterious book._

**A/N**

**Thanks DarkRabbit77 for help on the chapter idea. **

**I am always open to chapter ideas! PM me whenever you want.**

**I might also accept requests for crossovers if it works with my story in some way. I **_**might.**_

**Anyway, Read, Review, Favorite, Follow, PM, and all that cool stuff!**

**End A/N**


	19. Oh My God, Ponies

Mike looked around him and saw nothing. Literally nothing. The expanse beyond him was white and seemed endless. It took Mike a few seconds to register that he was having some kind of dream.

"A unicorn with an affinity for Chaos? Interesting…" said a voice. Mike couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"Hello?" Mike asked. He felt a slight throbbing in his head but it immediately faded.

The voice continued talking to itself. "Resistant to Chaos as well. Even more interesting. He could be a Hero…"

"Stop talking to yourself and tell me who you are." Mike said, annoyed.

"All in due time, my friend, all in due time." The voice said. "Tell me, are you a Hero?"

"It's the opposite of no." Mike said jokingly.

"A sense of humor to boot. I think you deserve to know who I am now." The voice said. A figure appeared out of nowhere. It was a mixture of numerous animals all wrapped up into one. "I am Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony."

"Wow, how did I not know it was you sooner?" Mike said as he facehoofed.

"You know of me? I didn't know I was so famous." Discord said, surprised.

"Yeah. So what can I do for you? I kind of want to wake up soon." Mike said. He kept his guard up because he had no idea what Discord was planning.

"You really are a curious one. Most ponies would either be terrified at the sight of me or begin pleading for mercy. Usually both. Where are you from exactly?" Discord asked.

"I'm, or once was, human." Mike answered. Discords eyes visibly widened.

"Really? I guess that explains why you're much more fun than other ponies. Are there more of you here?"

_What the hell? Might as well tell him._

"Yes, my two friends are here too. They're Heroes as well."

"Interesting. You seem to be able to wield both regular magic and Chaos. You also seem to have large amount of magic compared to regular unicorns. It even rivals that of Alicorns. You are the Hero of Will, right?" Discord asked.

"Yes. Have you ever met a Hero?" Mike asked back.

"No, I have not. The last time Heroes had been seen in Equestria was many millennia ago. Even _I _am not that old."

"I'll ask again, what do you want?" Mike said impatiently.

"I _was_ going to make you to release me from my stone prison, but seeing as how my Chaos doesn't affect you, I'm going to make you an offer. Help me bring Chaos to Equestria once more, and I'll see to it that you and your friends are transported back to your world." Discord said.

"Sorry, no can do. I've actually promised my services in keeping Chaos _out _of Equestria." Mike replied.

"You should at least consult with your friends. Bring them both here so they can hear what I have to say." Discord said as he opened a portal back to reality.

Mike thought about it. This was the express way back home. Would his friends really want to wait and find a different way back home? Mike walked towards the portal.

"Before I go, you said that I had the potential to use Chaos magic. This means what, exactly?" Mike asked.

Discord sighed. "Isn't it obvious? You have the potential to do so much more than what the limitations of normal magic allow you. Again, all you have to do is help me and I'll show you how to use it."

"I said I'd ask my friends. See you later, Discord." Mike said as he went through the portal.

Mike awoke with his face on the book he was reading earlier. He wiped the drool from his face and teleported to the apartment.

Discord had hidden his utter shock while talking with the Hero of Will.

_No unicorn, not even a Hero should be able to wield Chaos and regular magic at the same time. I'm glad I didn't tell him that he has an even greater capacity for Chaos than regular magic. He would be a dangerous foe if I ever face him. _

He thought about what the Hero had said about the others.

_I wonder if I will be able to manipulate the other Heroes instead. It would make my life so much easier._

He looked around his world. He absolutely hated it. There was nothing to entertain him, nothing to use his Chaos on. He wanted to get out of here before he lost his sanity.

_Perhaps I've already lost it. _Discord chuckled at the thought.

He hated the princesses even more so. They had no sense of humor or any appreciation for what his Chaos did. He wanted revenge more than anything.

**At the apartments…**

"You can't be serious." Jake said after Mike finished explaining what had just happened to him.

"I say we hear this Discord guy out. We could be back home in no time." Cameron offered his opinion.

"No, idiot. We would betray the princesses if we helped him." Jake scolded.

"I was only saying that we should talk with the guy. I'm not making my decision right now." Cameron said defensively.

"I'm already voting no to helping him." Jake said.

"I have to say no, too. The princesses trusted us to help keep out evil here. We can find a different way." Mike said.

"What if there is no other way, Mike? What if he's the only one who can send us back? This isn't just about you guys. I'm in this mess too." Cameron pointed out.

There was an awkward silence.

"He has a point." Mike said.

"I know." Jake sighed. "Fine. We can go hear what he has to say."

"Alright, then." Mike said as he teleported the group to the Canterlot castle.

"You know, you're pretty lucky that you don't have to walk everywhere like the rest of us." Cameron said.

"Jake doesn't even walk! You're the only one that has no special means of transportation." Mike retorted. "Anyway, I'm guessing that Discord will contact us-"

There was a blinding flash and the three found themselves in the void Mike had been in earlier.

"-now." Mike finished.

Both Cameron and Jake felt some slight throbbing in their heads, but the pain vanished almost instantly.

_They're immune too? Ugh, I guess its back to Plan B. _Discord thought as he materialized out of nothing.

"My God! What _is_ that thing?" Cameron asked. "I was led to believe it was just another pony! What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Hello, my name's Discord and I'm _not _the one judging you on your appearance." Discord said irritably. "I'm guessing you're the Hero of Strength?"

"Yeah." Cameron answered.

"And that means you are the Hero of Skill." Discord said as he pointed to Jake.

"And you must be the insane creature that's offered us a way back home." Jake joked.

Discord smiled. "You Heroes have a much better sense of humor than these ponies. Do you appreciate Chaos as well?"

"What do you mean Chaos?" Cameron asked. Discord had been waiting for this question.

"Allow me to show you." He said as he made a magical viewer appear before them.

The three watched the scene. Houses floated high in the air, some even upside down. Ponies did amazingly random things on the streets such as tap dancing or floating upside down. Cotton candy clouds filled the air and poured what seemed to be chocolate rain. Pigs flew around in the background.

"He seems like a fun guy." Cameron said enthusiastically.

"Idiot." Jake mumbled.

"Thank you… er…" Discord tried to think of the Hero's name, but couldn't think of it.

"My name's Cameron. That's Jake" Cameron pointed to Jake and then to Mike. "And that's Mike."

"It's nice to know that you like the Chaos I spread. Would you like to help me with that?" Discord asked.

"Well, it's kind of funny, but to an extent. Some things were just plain weird." Cameron said.

"So is that a yes or a no?" Discord said impatiently.

"It's a no. Sorry, but I think you might just be the tiniest bit crazy." Cameron answered.

"Alright, the vote is unanimous. See you later Discord." Jake said. He paused for a second. "Oh crap, he's the only one that can let us out."

Discord smiled. "Bingo. You three are staying here. You really should have accepted my offer. Ta-ta." He laughed as he dematerialized.

"This is just great." Cameron said sarcastically.

"Mike, can't you just teleport us out of here?" Jake asked desperately.

"Discord created a portal that let me out of here before. It was probably made using Chaos, which means I can't… wait, maybe I _can_ do something. Discord said that I have the ability to use Chaos." Mike stated as he tried focusing his magic.

"Do you even know how to use it?" Jake asked.

"Nope." Mike said. "But I might as well try." He returned to his concentration.

_We're going to be stuck in here forever. _Jake thought as he sighed.

**Meanwhile…**

Naomi just finished putting the finishing touches on the new chapter for her book. After pulling two all-nighters, seven cups of coffee, and an energy shot, she finally finished her book. She brushed the hair out of her face and smiled. If everything went well, she would have it published in less than a week.

She may have been 16, but she had high ambitions. She aimed high, and she almost never missed.

"Woo!" she exclaimed and took another sip of coffee. She peered out the window, which showed that the sun was only just starting to rise.

_I just need to check my e-mail and I'm off to bed. _She thought as she pulled up her e-mail account.

She checked the new messages.

_Spam, coupon, spam, sp- wait… _She examined the message closely.

It read: "Ponify Yourself."

_Wonder what this is. _She thought as she opened the message.

She immediately regretted it. Although she had her speakers at a low volume, a resonating BOOM forced her to cover her ears. She quickly muted the computer and wondered if it had woken her parents.

_Oh crap! I wasn't supposed to be on the computer all night! They'll ground me for sure!_

She quickly pressed the blue words: Click Here!

Naomi found herself being pulled towards the computer. She tried holding on to her chair, but she lost her grip and flew right into the vortex that had appeared on her computer screen. She had the insane sensation of flying upwards, then falling down. She blacked out almost instantly.

**Meanwhile, in the Void…**

"C'mon, just one… freaking… portal." Mike was down to almost no patience. He had been at this for an hour. Or, at least, what he thought was an hour. There was no way to tell time in the void.

"Maybe you should try thinking chaotic thoughts." Cameron offered.

"Oh, thanks, Captain Obvious! I sure am glad you're here!" Mike yelled back.

He wasn't used to not being able to do anything and he didn't like it.

"It's called Chaos magic for a reason. Are you even thinking about causing destruction or anything? You need to have some kind of chaotic motive." Jake said.

Like a piece in a puzzle, Mike's mind made the connection. He had over-thought everything. It was insanely simple, yet he had overlooked it. He facehoofed.

Mike brought up all the memories he had of what Discord had showed them earlier. He thought about doing them for an instant, and then concentrated his magic. He opened his eyes and saw a portal in front of him.

He gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry that I lost my cool, Cam. I promise it won't happen again."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you were actually able to get us out of here." Jake said as he stepped through the portal. The other two followed suit.

The three found themselves in the castle gardens.

"Why are we in a garden? I thought we were in the Archives." Jake asked.

"I have no-" Mike said before he saw an Alicorn laid across the ground, unconscious. He rushed to her side.

Naomi was only just beginning to regain consciousness. In truth, that had been her only sleep in two days. She felt a throbbing pain across her body. She slowly opened her eyes, only to be met with foggy vision.

"Ugh… that wasn't fun." She mumbled. She staggered as she tried sitting upright. She felt someone else supporting her.

"You okay?" a voice said from a little further away.

"Of course she isn't okay, Cam. She was unconscious on the floor." Another scolded. It seemed to be coming from the person next to her.

She blinked her eyes, trying to clear the haziness from her sight. She still couldn't see.

_I must have lost my glasses. _She thought. Almost as if he had read her mind, the person brought her glasses to her eyes.

"There you go, miss." He said.

Naomi tried adjusting her glasses with her hands. Only, she didn't have hands anymore.

"Aah!" she shrieked. Instead of hands, she now had hooves.

"What's wrong?" a third voice asked. She turned around to see who was talking to her.

She saw a unicorn, Pegasus, and a regular pony.

"Oh my God, ponies!" she exclaimed.

**A/N**

**Surprise! Whoa, didn't see that coming, did you? **

**Naomi was created by the wonderful KhAndTwilightFan15! Thanks!**

**Please Review, Favorite, and Follow.**

**Still Accepting chapter ideas!**

**Stay awesome, followers!**

**End A/N**


	20. Sugar!

Naomi couldn't believe what was going on. She, for whatever reason, was in the world of My Little Pony.

"I'm guessing that you aren't from here." Said the unicorn.

"Who are you?" Naomi asked. "What am I doing here?"

"To answer your first question, my name's Mike. The Pegasus over there is Jake and the earth pony over there is Cameron." Mike answered. "What's your name?"

"Naomi. What am I doing here?" she asked again.

Mike sighed. "I don't know. To be perfectly honest, we don't know why we're here either."

"Wait, what?" she asked quizzically.

"Well, we're humans." Jake answered. "We were stupid enough to check an e-mail that transported us here."

"I think I got the same e-mail! Did it say 'Ponify Yourself'?" Naomi asked

"Yep. That's the one." Mike said.

"Stupid e-mail." Cameron muttered.

"Do any of you have something that I could use to see what I look like? A mirror, maybe?" She asked

"One moment, please." Mike's horn glowed bright red. Suddenly, a reflective piece of magic appeared. "There you go."

Before Naomi could thank Mike, Jake said, "Dude, your magic is red now!"

"What do you mean?" Mike said, cocking his eyebrow.

"Your magic before was clear! Now it's red!" Jake explained.

Mike levitated the mirror he created over to himself. Sure enough, his magic had a bright red coloration.

"Huh, must've been the Chaos that made it change. That's the only thing I can think of that could have changed it." Mike said.

"Ahem." Naomi cleared her throat.

"Oh, sorry." Mike said as he gave the mirror back to her.

She examined herself closely. Instead of an earth pony, unicorn, or pegasus, she was an Alicorn. She had both wings and a horn. Her mane was a deep, dark brown and her body was only a little lighter in color. Along with her glasses, she looked a lot like how she did back home.

"I don't get it, why does she have wings and a horn?" Cameron asked suddenly.

"She's an Alicorn, Cam. She can fly _and_ use magic." Jake explained.

"And I can't do either of those. This is just unfair." Cameron said, annoyed.

"You can basically break almost anything with a single punch, Cameron. How is that unfair?" Mike said. Before Cameron could respond, Mike asked Naomi. "Do you happen to know anything about the show My Little Pony?"

Naomi hesitated for a moment. She was a closet pegasister and she had never really told anyone before. She summoned some courage and answered, "Yes, I know about it. Why do you ask?"

"Because things will be much simpler for you to understand. We're going to introduce you to Princess Celestia." Mike said.

"Wait, you three actually know Celestia?" She asked.

"To an extent. She's helping us find a way back home. She'll explain everything when the time comes." Mike said. "Let's move."

Naomi tried standing up, but fell down almost immediately, knocking over Cameron as well.

"Yeah, the whole 'four legs' thing is going to take a little time to get used to." Mike said as he helped Naomi get up.

"Sorry, Cameron." She said.

Cameron brushed himself off. "No problem."

Naomi tried once again to stand on her four hooves, only to fall down again. It took a few tries, but she was finally able to stand up.

"Now comes the most difficult part: walking." Jake said.

Naomi actually was able to walk with little difficulty, much to the surprise of the trio. The group headed towards the throne room.

On the way, Jake stated, "Besides Celestia and Luna, there aren't many Alicorns in Equestria, are there?"

"Huh. I guess not. You must be pretty lucky, Naomi." Mike smiled.

The four entered the large doors that led to the room. Sitting in the room were Princess Luna and Celestia.

Celestia's first noticed the Alicorn that walked with the Heroes. She was surprised to say the least.

"Who is this new face?" Celestia asked.

"I'm Naomi, your highness. It's a pleasure to meet you." Naomi said as she bowed. Cameron stared at her as if she were crazy.

"Uh, why are you bowing to her?" Cameron asked.

"She's a princess, idiot." Mike scolded.

"We didn't bow to her when we first met her or after that." Cameron said. "I mean, sure, she was kidnapped, but still."

"Wouldn't you bow to a king or queen if you met one?" Mike asked.

"Would I?" Cameron asked jokingly.

"Cameron has a point, since we don't really live here, should we really bow to her?" Jake said.

"My God, we're so off-topic. Just be quiet." Mike said.

Both Princess Luna and Naomi stared at the trio.

"You sure do argue a lot." Naomi observed.

"So strange…" Luna said quietly to herself.

Princess Celestia tried to steer the subject back to Naomi. "Naomi, do you come from where the Heroes come from?"

"Um, yeah, I guess. They're heroes? Heroes of what?" Naomi was honestly surprised at the three boys' titles.

"We're just beings called Heroes, apparently. It's kind of hard to explain." Jake said.

"Riiiiight." Naomi said as she turned back to Celestia. "Why am I here, Princess?"

Celestia sighed. "I have no knowledge as to why you and the Heroes are here. In fact, your presence brings much more curiosity than you know. Allow me to examine your magic."

"What?" she said as she turned to the three.

"Just concentrate on making something happen, and it'll happen. At least, that's what I do." Mike said.

Naomi tried what Mike said, focusing on teleporting closer to Celestia. Her horn glowed a brilliant green before she finally disappeared and reappeared just a meter from where Celestia was sitting.

"Woo! That was cool!" Naomi said gleefully.

"Intriguing." Celestia said with a smile.

_She's a Hero, but she is not one of the Three. It's very possible that she may be the Fourth._

"Naomi, I believe that you are a Hero as well." Celestia said. All three of the boys' mouths dropped at this.

"I thought you said there were only the Heroes of Skill, Will, and Strength." Jake said. "What's she the Hero of?"

"She is the culmination of all your powers into one. She has all the powers you three have." Celestia said.

"That's not fair." Cameron whined. "How could she be as powerful as all three of us?"

"I never said that she was as powerful as you three. In truth, her power is only a fraction of yours. Approximately one-eighth, to be exact. Still, she has remarkable power." Celestia said admiringly.

"I'm still lost on the whole 'Hero' thing." Naomi said.

Celestia took great care to explain what Heroes were.

"Since they all of weaknesses, these guys hang around each other?" Naomi asked, trying to understand.

"Hey! We were good friends before the whole 'Hero' thing." Jake said.

"Well, yeah, but I mean in addition to that." Naomi said.

"Because you have all of their powers, however limited, you are able to overcome all of these weaknesses." Celestia said.

Naomi tried to let the information soak in. Only an hour earlier, she had found out that she was transported to the magical land of Equestria. Not only that, she was now a pony and apparently a Hero as well.

_I have a feeling that my book will have to wait for a little while._

"What do you plan to do while the Heroes try to find a way back home?" Luna asked, trying to change the subject matter.

"I guess I'll head to wherever these guys are going." Naomi answered.

"We live in Ponyville." Jake said. "Before we head out, we're going to need to figure out a name for you."

"Alona." Naomi said rather too quickly.

"That was fast. Did you already think of one before you came here?" Mike said.

"Nope. I'm just… a fast thinker." Naomi lied. In truth, she had thought of a pony name for herself ever since she had read a My Little Pony fan fiction.

"Another thing is your cutie mark." Mike said. "You… wait. You already have it?" Mike said as he stared at Naomi's flank. She looked behind her and saw that it was a green circle, similar to the ones of the trio.

"Huh. I guess so." Naomi said.

"That's weird. We all had to work to get our marks." Cameron said. At that, the group said their farewell's to Princess Celestia.

"Thank you, Princess Celestia. It was an honor to actually meet you." Naomi said. Mike was about to teleport the group to Ponyville when he remembered the Discord incident.

"Princess, before we leave, I have some news." Mike said. "When I was studying in the archives, Discord appeared in my dream. He promised passage back to our world if we helped spread chaos around Equestria."

"You didn't-" Clestia started but Mike cut her off.

"No, we didn't accept his offer, but it is worrisome to know that Discord is already planning his escape. He also seems to have a backup plan." Mike finished.

Celestia pondered on this information. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Mike. My sister and I will figure out Discord's plan."

Mike concentrated his magic once more, and he was suddenly gone. They arrived an instant later at the entrance of Sugarcube Corner.

"So, what are we doing right now?" Naomi asked.

"We're going to speed through the whole introduction process. No parties, just calm-"Mike said as he opened the door, but was taken aback at a loud wave of "Surprise!"

"I-impossible!" Mike said in disbelief. Pinkie Pie hopped happily toward the group. She faced Naomi.

"Hello! My name's Pinkie Pie! I had a feeling that there would be a new pony here today, so I threw a super-duper amazing party!" She said cheerily. "What's your name?"

"My name's Alona, nice to meet you!" Naomi replied.

"Everypony, let's give a big Ponyville welcome to Alona!" Pinkie Pie said, causing the multitude of ponies to erupt in a chorus of "hello".

As soon as the yelling died down, two ponies rolled out a massive cake, causing both Cameron and Naomi's eyes to widen.

"Cake!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Help yourself!" Pinkie Pie smiled.

The two launched themselves at the cake and began giving themselves slices. Jake and Mike averted their eyes, knowing how crazy Cameron came to when he was given cake, or sugar of any kind.

Within minutes, nearly a third of the cake had been devoured by the two alone. Jake occupied himself with talking with Rainbow Dash while Mike talked with Twilight.

"How are your studies coming along?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I've read all of the volumes of Starswirl the Bearded's Guide to the Dimensions. Also read something on energy shaping." Mike said as he thought of all the books he read. He guessed that he might have tackled around two dozen books in a week. Then again, there were probably thousands in the Archive.

"I don't remember those books ever being in the public areas of the Archives." Twilight said, confused. "I've read everything in that section, so I should know."

_Crap. Should've lied about the books._

"Maybe they're in a new section." Mike suggested.

"No, the Archive doesn't update very often. Are you hiding something, Keen?" Twilight asked.

Mike sighed. "Yes and no. You see…"

"Hey, Keen! Bye, Keen!" Naomi said quickly and happily as she passed him.

Upon closer examination, Mike was able to see that Naomi was shaking a little. He recognized this to be a moderate case of Sugar Overdose. He had learned to identify it after a long time of hanging around Cameron.

"Alona seems to like the party." Twilight observed. "How did you three meet her again?"

Mike was glad to have the subject changed. "We met her in the gardens of the castle. She was just visiting Canterlot for a while. She'll be visiting here as well for a little while, too."

"That's nice. What's really strange is that she's an Alicorn, yet she isn't part of the royal family. I didn't think that was really possible."

"You learn something new every day." Mike said as he watched Alona drink three glasses of punch, one after another. "If you don't mind, I need to discuss something with Agile."

Mike walked towards Jake, who had just finished talking with Rainbow Dash.

"They're two peas in a freaking pod." Jake observed as Mike walked up to him. Naomi and Cameron got themselves yet another piece of cake.

"I didn't think there was anyone alive that could reach the same hyperactivity level as Cam." Mike said, rather impressed.

"Do you think she'll adjust here? I mean, like we did?" Jake asked.

"Honestly, if this party is an indication, she's going to enjoy herself quite a bit." Mike said with a smile.

**Three hours later…**

Cameron carried Naomi to her new apartment. Seeing as she had no money, Cameron agreed to give up some money from his stash to rent out a room for Naomi at the apartment. After the party, Naomi fell unconscious from a Sugar Crash.

Cameron felt that he wasn't far away from one either, so he hurried up the stairs. He opened the door, and set Naomi down on one of the beds. Cameron smirked. He was honestly surprised that someone could match his sugar consumption. Cameron shut the door behind him and went to his room.

He plopped down on the bed and instantly fell asleep.

"And that's why I don't eat all that much sugar." Jake said as he extinguished the lights.

**A/N**

**Hello! Still accepting Chapter Ideas!**

**Still accepting crossovers!**

**Still awesome!**

**As always, Favorite, Follow, Review, Repeat!**

**End A/N**


	21. Summer Heat

Cameron found himself in the blissful in-between of reality and sleep. Unfortunately, he became ever more conscious as he felt his body temperature steadily rise. It became so hot that Cameron actually found himself sweating.

"Where's a freaking A/C when you need it?" he muttered.

"Shut up. Go to sleep." Jake replied groggily.

"How can you sleep in this heat?"

"Years of practice." Jake said jokingly.

Cameron got up and out of bed. As he peered outside, he saw that the sun was shining rather brightly. He also noticed that the streets lacked the usual bustle of ponies walking around.

"I don't think it's been it's ever been this hot before." Cameron said.

"Please leave me to my sleep." Jake said, annoyed at Cameron for still talking.

"Whatever. I'm going to check up on Naomi. Enjoy baking in that bed." Cameron said as he walked out of the room. He put his hoof to his head, as if he could stop the splitting headache he had.

_Hurts like hell, but eating that cake was defiantly worth it. _He thought. Naomi probably wasn't faring much better.

Before he headed down the hallway to Naomi's room, Cameron stopped at Mike's door and knocked.

"Go away…" Mike said.

"Get up. I know you're not going to last much longer in this heat. I was thinking about going swimming. Ponies can swim, right." Cameron asked.

"Yes. Swimming doesn't sound that bad, actually. One sec." Mike said as he got up and opened the door.

"It's hot as hell today, don't you think?" Cameron said wiping sweat from his face.

"Well, it is summer here. Just put two and two together." Mike said as they headed over to Naomi's room.

They we're surprised to see that the door was open.

"Naomi?" Mike asked as he peered inside the room. The window was open as well, leaving the curtains to wave in the summer breeze.

"Where do you think-" Cameron started before he was interrupted by a loud scream.

"HELP ME!" the voice shrieked. Cameron and Mike recognized it as Jake's and rushed towards the room. Cameron tried opening the door, but it was locked.

_Screw this! _Cameron thought as utterly destroyed the door.

The two saw Jake outside the room, desperately grabbing hold of the window frame. Pulling him by his tail were Rainbow Dash and another pegasus.

"Guys! If you're not too busy standing there like slack-jawed idiots, I could use your help!" Jake said as he lost his grip with his left hoof. "Help me!" his voice was almost like a whisper, yet conveyed the true horror he felt.

After much effort, the two mares finally captured their prize and flew off.

"What the hell was that?!" Cameron exclaimed.

"Calm down, I got this." Mike said as his horn glowed crimson. An instant later, Jake was on the floor, his hooves covering his face. He stole a peak and saw that he was no longer being dragged through the sky by two crazy mares.

"Thank you!" Jake said.

"Don't thank me yet, they'll probably be back. I guess it's that time of the year, huh?" Mike said.

"I thought we had a little longer, but yeah." Jake answered.

"What are you two talking about?" Cameron asked.

"Mare Heat Season." They both answered in unison.

"I don't-"Cameron said but the two were already explaining.

"Mare Heat Season is theory that some Bronies have thought about. During the season, the heat causes mares to become crazy and a crazy desire to… you know…" Mike said, embarrassed at the subject.

"Bow-chicka-wow-wow." Jake finished the sentence.

Cameron's eyes widened. "I thought this was a kid's show."

"Blame science." Jake said as he shrugged. "Anyway, we need to get out of here. Mike?"

"Way ahead of you." Mike said as a red aura surrounded his horn.

Nothing happened.

"What the hell?" Mike said in obvious confusion.

"What's wrong? Why didn't it work?" Jake asked, starting to freak out.

"I have no idea. Something's preventing me from teleporting out of here." Mike said.

"Guys, I think I know what it is." Cameron said and the two saw him look out the window.

Sure enough, above them was a green magical dome

"It's green. Oh, crap." Mike said. Jake and Cameron looked at him in confusion. Then it suddenly made sense.

"Naomi!" Jake said.

"She's a mare too! That's why we couldn't find her in her room" Mike said.

"So, we're screwed?" Cameron asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, defiantly if anypony gets hold of us. However, there may be a weakness in her magic." Mike said as he focused his magic and shot a red beam at the top of the dome. The magic burned a hole through the dome like it was tissue paper, but it repaired itself within a minute.

"Jake, looks like you may be the only one who'll be able to get out. If I shoot a beam, you need to go through it and find a safe place. Better yet, get the Princesses." Mike ordered.

"Wouldn't the Princesses be affected too?" Cameron asked.

"Shit, I honestly don't know." Mike said.

"Me neither. However, I'm not leaving you two here. We just need to find the edge of the dome and go through it. It can't be that big." Jake said.

"Oh, it's that big." Cameron said as he looked off into the horizon. The dome had the diameter of almost a mile.

"Well, we better get started. Cameron, don't punch any of the mares that try to attack us. Jake, try not to get captured again. Please watch my back. I'm our only hope of getting out of here, just saying." Mike said as he walked out of the room.

The other two immediately followed suit. The opened the front doors of the apartment lobby to check if there were any mares ready to ambush them.

Seeing as the coast was clear, Cameron motioned to the other two. As they cleared the door, they broke out into a sprint.

The pegasi were the first to find them. Dozens of them were already in the skies, looking for an unlucky stallion to walk out into the open.

"There's some!" one exclaimed. Many of them dived at seeing the three friends.

"Incoming!" Jake shouted.

Mike focused his magic and made a magic force field that covered the three, moving with them as well. It somewhat resembled the one Naomi created.

Many mares began trying to break the shield by repeatedly bucking and kicking it.

"I don't know how long the shield'll hold out! Careful!" Mike yelled at Cameron, who almost tripped but recovered.

By now almost all the mares of Ponyville were well aware of the friends' presence. Among them, much to Mike's dismay was Rarity. As was Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Applejack sent a devastating buck into the shield causing it to crack a little.

"Cameron, you now have my permission to knock out anypony that jumps us." Mike said.

"Gotcha!" Cameron replied.

They were only ten minutes from the edge when a rather large portion off the side of the shield broke off.

"Shit shit shit!"Jake said in a panic.

"I think I got something." Mike said as a flash of red light burst through the shield, sending all the mares close to it flying in multiple directions.

"Make another one!" Cameron said.

"Can't! I need to charge it!" Mike answered. The three were in the outskirts of Ponyville at this point, no less than an eighth of a mile away. As they neared the edge, they were cut off by both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

"We don't have time for this!" Mike said. "Cameron?"

"With gusto." Cameron said as he rushed up to the two mares and methodically knocked both of them out. Rainbow Dash was the first to go down. She didn't react fast enough to the hoof that Cameron sent towards the back of her head.

Pinkie Pie proved more difficult.

"Cameron, it's her Pinkie Sense! She knows what you're doing before you even do it!" Jake hollered.

"Thanks for the info!" Cameron shot back. He turned to Pinkie Pie. "Please don't fire me after I do this."

Cameron made a fake swoop for legs, as if to trip her. Pinkie jumped into the air to dodge. This was what Cameron wanted, though. He, as lightly as he could, thumped her head. She fell to the ground unconscious.

_You can't move out of the way if you're stuck in mid-air. _Cameron thought.

Although the two mares were finished, a whole stampede had managed to catch up.

"Move out of the way, dammit!" Cameron said as he ran away.

"I charged the blow-back spell! Give me a second." Mike said as he stepped towards the stampede. Only meters away now, the mares looked like they were going to envelope Mike like a swarm of ants. Mike unleashed another wave of magic, sending the ponies into the air yet again.

"I feel light-headed." Mike said as he stumbled back to his friends. He shook his head, trying to keep himself conscious.

"Come on, were almost there." Jake said. His two friends stared behind him, their moths wide open. "What is- oh my gosh." Jake said.

Behind him, with a smug smile, was Naomi.

"Boo." She said, actually startling Jake.

"Naomi, let's be reasonable about this." Mike said.

"Reasonable? Three stallions here without a single mare with them? That's not reasonable." Naomi said.

"Wait, what?" Cameron was confused.

"It's the hormones talking. Whatever she says will probably make little to no sense." Mike said.

"I make total sense. You can't escape. I won't let you." Naomi said, agitated.

"How about, no? Sorry Naomi, but this is for your own good." Cameron said as he lunged to kick her. She dodged the blow and smacked Cameron across the face.

"Ow!" Cameron said.

"She has all of our powers, Cam. That means strength too." Mike sighed.

"Don't make this difficult. Just come with me back to the apartment." Naomi said.

"Any plans?" Jake asked.

"Well, we have a group of mares running our way right now and a crazed Hero that has a weaker version of all our powers. I say we just fight our way out." Mike said.

"So smart. Good-looking too." Naomi said with a smile. Mike couldn't help but feel his face redden. "I'll play with you first.

"This is probably the creepiest time of my life." Jake said bluntly.

"I'm with you on that one." Cameron agreed.

"Charge her on three." Mike ordered.

"Come at me, bro." Naomi said flirtatiously.

Mike tried to ignore her taunt. "One… two… three!" Mike said as both Cameron and Jake rushed towards her and attacked.

Naomi held her ground, dodging and countering numerous punches, however taking a few blows. Her crazed state must have dulled the pain, seeing as she shrugged the pain off.

"Just… give… up… already!" Cameron said between blows. He didn't want to hurt her too much, but his patience was wearing thin.

Naomi also landed plenty of hits on the three. Naomi managed to land a serious kidney punch on Mike, causing him to double over from the pain. Cameron received numerous hits to the face and stomach while Jake was bucked so hard in the chest that he went flying.

"They're getting closer!" Jake informed.

"This is so fun." Naomi said. "I know some other fun things too."

Suddenly, Mike let loose another beam of magic. Naomi directed her attention to the beam and dodged, not realizing that Cameron was already behind her and ready to knock her out. With a quick and audible THWACK she stumbled onto the ground.

The three stood there for a few seconds, trying to catch their breath.

"That was… an awesome workout." Cameron huffed.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" Mike said, wincing from the pain in his side. "God, that hurts."

Mike sent a large burst of magic towards the dome, creating a gaping hole in the structure. Before it could reconstruct itself, the three were already outside. Mike then teleported them to Canterlot, just outside of the royal castle.

"You think the Princesses are affected?" Jake asked.

"At this point, I really don't care. I think we suffered enough from Naomi." Mike said.

_Note to self: Never take on a heat crazed Hero after running a mile in temperatures exceeding one hundred degrees Fahrenheit._

Suddenly, Jake fell to the ground. "I think she broke a rib…" he muttered.

"Walk it off." Cameron said.

"We should get him to a clinic or something. I don't know anything on medical spells nor do I want to experiment." Mike said.

"No way. Doctors scare the crap out of me." Jake said.

"Too bad." Cameron said as he hoisted Jake onto his back.

After what seemed like eternity, the three finally found the Canterlot Hostpital.

"We need help here." Cameron said. Immediately two orderlies took Jake to a room.

Mike and Cameron waited for a full hour before a doctor came up to the two.

"You three must have gotten into one serious scrap. Your friend had only two broken ribs and some minor contusions to his left kidney, but we were able to heal him quickly. May I ask what happened?" he said.

"Well, as you know, it's the Heat Season." Mike said. The doctor immediately understood.

"It's a wonder you made it out alive. It's supposed to be much worse this year considering the dramatic warm front. I see that you two also took some beatings." Said the doctor.

"Nothing I can't live with." Cameron replied. "When is he going to be able to leave?"

"Considering what happened to him today, I think it would be best to give him a day to recover." The doctor said.

"Thanks, doc." Cameron said as the doctor left for another room.

"Ugh, this was an eventful day, huh?" Mike said.

"You don't say?" Cameron answered.

**A/N **

**Hi!**

**As always, read, review, fav, and follow.**

**And for reviews…**

**IT'S OVER 100! *breaks scouter***

**Sorry, couldn't resist.**

**End A/N**


	22. Universe Troll

Cameron didn't want to wake up. The bed wouldn't let him.

_It's a proven fact that gravity is ten times stronger near a bed in the morning. It's simple science. _He thought.

The day prior, Mike and Cameron had left Jake to rest in the hospital. They decided not to go back to the Ponyville, out of fear of what might happen to them. However, the major flaw in their plan was that they hadn't brought any money with them to Canterlot. Therefore, that meant no hotel room.

Mike had the brilliant idea of asking the princesses if they could stay in the Royal Castle.

Cameron was surprised when he was shown his room. No, "surprised" was an understatement. He was thrilled.

It was _enormous. _He bet that three apartment rooms could fit in it. That didn't even include the closet space. What he had been most excited about was the bed.

It was easily double the size of his bed back at the apartment. Out of pure childlike-whim, he had jumped into the bed. It was unimaginably more comfortable than his apartment bed. The sheets were smooth, much more so than his regular ones.

_That shit's sandpaper as far as I'm concerned. _He had thought.

One could see why Cameron had been upset that had to leave early the next morning.

"Up and at 'em, Tinker Bell!" Mike had yelled. Cameron covered his head with his pillow.

"Go away…" he all but whined.

"Come on, Cam. We need to check up on Jake."

"Piss off…" he grumbled.

Cameron then felt himself being lifted out of the bed. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't in the castle anymore, but rather the hospital lobby.

"We're here to check up on Agile." Mike said the pony at the reception desk.

"Down the hall, fourth room on the left." The mare answered.

With much effort, Cameron woke himself from his half-sleeping state and went with Mike to Jake's room.

"How did you sleep?" Mike said with a grin.

"Shut up." Cameron said.

The two entered the room and saw that Jake was already awake.

"Oh, thank God you're here. I'm bored out of my mind!" Jake said. "No T.V. or magazines and I'm left to just lay here!"

"Calm down, it was just one night. Doc says we can get you out of here now." Cameron said.

"What are we going to do, anyway? It's still Heat Season, which means crazy mares still prowling the streets." Jake said.

"Giggity." Cameron said.

Both Mike and Jake facehoofed.

"I still have research to do. It'd be nice to have someone help me. Wink wink." Mike said, making sure his point got across.

"I don't want to go to a freaking library." Cameron said.

"And nobody wants you at the library anyway, Cam." Mike retorted. "Jake?"

"I've got nothing else to do." Jake said, getting out of bed finally.

As they were about to leave the room, a voice said, "Not so fast."

Before the three could respond, they we're already out of the hospital room. They now saw that they were in a black void, similar to the one Discord had trapped them in.

"The hell is going on?" Cameron asked.

"Allow me to answer that." Said the voice. "I need to talk to you three."

A man dressed sharply in a suit, top hat, monocle, and cane came into existence directly across from the three.

"Y-you're human!" Jake exclaimed.

"Is being human that surprising? Or are you already used to ponies?" said the man in a perfect British accent.

"Are you British?" Cameron asked, for no real reason.

"Not quite. Really, I can be whatever I want. For example." The man said as he changed into another form.

"Y'all okay with this one?" the new man asked, in a deep, Southern accent. His clothes had changed as well, now a plaid shirt, jeans, work boots, and cowboy hat.

The three's mouths fell agape.

"How 'bout…" the man said before he changed yet again.

"Zis one?" he said. The man was now in full urban camouflage combat gear, complete with body armor and helmet. Cameron instantly recognized this as a Russian soldier from the game Call of Duty. "Perhaps, you vould be more comfortable wiz…"

The man disappeared again, and was replaced by a grey earth pony.

"A pony?" he finished his sentence.

He then returned to his first form.

"Are the top hat and monocle really necessary?" Mike asked.

The man took off the hat and looked at it.

"Perhaps not. However, it makes me feel quite sophisticated." The man answered. A chair appeared behind him, which he promptly sat on.

"Who are you? What's your name?" Mike asked quizzically.

"Name? Goodness it's been so long since I used it, I can barely remember it." The man said as he thought deeply. "You may call me Keeper."

"Why do they call you Keeper?" Jake asked.

"Because I am Keeper." He answered simply. "The meaning behind the name is complicated."

"What are you?" Cameron asked.

"I am Keeper." The man answered yet again, only to receive a sigh from Mike and a facehoof from Jake. "The better question for you to ask is 'what do I do'."

"What _do _you do?" Cameron asked.

The man smiled.

"I can't tell you everything. Not yet, at least. However, I will tell you that I am tasked with creating what you would call destiny, for lack of a better term." Keeper said.

Mike stared at him in disbelief. "You don't seriously expect me to believe that you're the one who determines what happens to us, do you?"

"I never said I chose what would happen to people. I said that I merely tasked with creating it." Keeper said.

"You've lost me." Cameron said.

"Shocker." Jake muttered.

"I can't explain everything to you right now. I am not the one who determines one's destiny. I am the one who makes it happen. A proper metaphor would be…" Keeper said before shape-shifting.

He was now dressed in a construction workers clothes along with a hard hat.

He held up some blueprints.

"Think of these as someone's destiny. I didn't make these plans. Think of me as the one who actually creates it, like a construction worker following blueprints to make a building." Keeper said before reverting to his British form.

"So, you're the one who actually creates destiny and makes things happen, right?" Mike asked.

"Correct."

"But you didn't make the plans for anyone's destiny?"

"Correct."

"Then who makes the so-called 'plans for destiny'?" Mike asked, finally comprehending.

Keeper chuckled.

"Ah, the Hero of Will. Analytical and intelligent to the last. Sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot tell you." Keeper said

"Wait a second. If you create destiny, you're the one who sent us here to Equestria!" Mike exclaimed. Both Jake and Cameron glared at Keeper.

"Yes and no. I did send you here by the message you received. However, I didn't choose for it to happen." Keeper said.

"Why didn't you just take into account what this meant for us?" Cameron asked angrily. "I miss my old life."

"Irrelevant. Although I did think about what it would mean for you three, and I am sorry that you don't like it, I can't change what's already been planned." Keeper said. "In my defense, take a look at all the good things that you have gotten out of being in Equestria. You three are now Heroes, along with the one miss I sent as well. You now know that you have power. You have memories of friendship with each other and adventures as well."

The three said nothing but slowly nodded their heads in agreement.

"Funny. This whole meeting was part of your destinies as well." Keeper said with a chuckle.

"What is Celestia in all this? Does she know about you?" Mike questioned.

"The pony princess? Bah, she is but a small fish in an ocean of behemoth proportions. But to answer your question, no. There are many things she does not know about and I am one of them." Keeper said.

All of them just stood there.

"This has to be the largest universe-troll I've ever seen." Cameron said.

Keeper looked at him for a few seconds and produced a small paper. He then handed it to Cameron.

On it was a troll-face along with the caption: _**"Problem?"**_

Jake resisted the urge to chuckle while Cameron burst out laughing. Mike was barely able to keep a straight face. Even then, his mouth formed a small smile.

"I miss the Internet." Cameron said, regaining his composure.

"At that, my friends, I must bid thee farewell." Keeper said abruptly before snapping his fingers.

The scene dissolved back to reality where the friend found themselves laying on the floor. After standing back up and stretching, Mike said, "Well, that was… interesting to say the least."

"That was probably the high point of today." Jake said.

"It doesn't have to be." Cameron said as an idea popped into his head. He smiled and his eyes lit up.

"I'm afraid to even ask." Mike said.

**A few minutes later, Outside Ponyville…**

_This will be freaking amazing. _Cameron thought as they overlooked Ponyville from a nearby hill. The shield, in all of its glory, was still standing.

Pegasi mares were still in the clouds, looking for unlucky males to come out and try their luck at running away. Earth ponies and unicorns alike went up and down the streets, searching homes and businesses for stallions.

_In other words, they locked that shit down._ Cameron said.

It was truly a sight to behold, one that Cameron would have marveled at did he not have something else on his mind.

"Why am I doing this?" Mike asked again, his fourth time so far.

"For my cash. Oh, and Naomi too." Cameron said.

Their plan, in short was to retrieve Cameron's cash from the room along with Naomi. The three had agreed that it was for the best that she got out of the heat and became normal again.

_Also to stop her from doing anything that she'll regret when she becomes sane. _Cameron thought and then shuddered. _As long as she hasn't done that already in the past day._

Cameron quickly got his mind out of the gutter and began the final check.

"Everyone here and alive?" he asked.

"Yep." Jake answered.

"Quick question. Do you want me to yell 'Fus Ro Da' on the way down?" Mike asked jokingly.

"That would be hilarious and much appreciated." Cameron replied. He began counting down. "Three… two… one!"

The three charged off the hill and moved towards the shield. Mike blasted through the shield with his magic and the three jumped through the gaping hole.

As soon as they got through, the mares closest to them were already rushing towards them. Mike then created a shield around them like the one they had used the previous day.

"I love this spell." Mike said.

Numerous bucks and kicks were unleashed on the shield, but not a single crack formed.

They were around town square when Mike finally decided to use his blow-back spell. Dozens of ponies flew across the sky, whether they had wings or not.

And so began phase two of the mission. Mike used his magic to try and detect the male ponies in the area. Surprisingly, there were only three, all within the same general area.

The basic objective was to save the poor fools. Cameron burst through the door to the house in which the three were cowering.

"How did you get through that door?" One asked in complete surprise. The othe two were busy hiding themselves behind a table.

"Quiet! We're getting you out of here." Mike said. "Facade, get your coins quick!"

"Way ahead of you, buddy!" Cameron said as he sprinted across the road to the apartment. He rushed up the stairs and into his room. The door was still broken, unsurprisingly. As he loaded the last sack on his back, he was confronted by none other than Naomi.

"Hello, stud." She said.

"I don't have time for this." Was all he said before he jumped out the open window. It wasn't the best of ideas seeing how his room was on the third floor. However, it seemed that being the Hero of Strength also meant that his bones wouldn't break easily.

Of course, it still hurt him.

"I brought a guest!" Cameron said as Naomi flew out the window. She was then enveloped in Mike's magic. Though she tried to fight it, Mike just kept her in his magical grip.

They all turned to leave, but were cut off by the entire Mane Six. From Twilight Sparkle to Applejack, the mares all had looks in their eyes that Cameron found unnerving.

"Us against the crazed Elements of Harmony?" Jake asked to nopony in particular. "They don't stand a chance."

Cameron turned to the three stallions that they had rescued.

"You should try running to the edge of the shield. Preferably now." He said. One of them gulped but they all nodded, thanked them, and ran off.

"At least we know where to find more stallions later, girls." Twilight said.

For two Bronies, namely Jake and Mike, this was both disturbing and hilarious.

"Bring it." Cameron said.

"This'll be fun." Jake said.

"Forgive when I beat you to near unconsciousness, Miss Rarity." Mike said.

And so it began.

Having the superior numbers, the Mane Six divided themselves between the three. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went after Jake, Rarity and Twilight went after Mike, and Cameron was grouped with Fluttershy and Applejack.

Rainbow started it off with zooming towards Jake at high speeds. Pinkie bounced close behind. Rainbow moved her hoof as if to collide with Jake's head.

At that very moment, Jake felt as if he we're in The Matrix. Numerous jabs and kicks from both a quick Rainbow Dash and an unpredictable Pinkie Pie left Jake on the defensive.

With Twilight and Rarity, Mike knew that the battle was going to be magic based. Mike decided to shake things up and sent a quick sleep spell towards Rarity.

Just as he had hoped, Rarity went out like a light and slumped on the floor. With Rarity out of the picture, it was now Twilight and Mike.

"Sorry, Dash!" Jake said as he clonked his marefriend on the head with enough force to knock her out.

Cameron wouldn't bring himself to hurting Fluttershy. However he was more than happy to take on Applejack. He felt air leave his lungs as Applejack bucked him in the chest. Cameron tried to regain his breath as Pinkie pie went flying into Fluttershy.

The two were on the ground and out of the fight. Jake decided to help out Cameron by distracting Applejack long enough for Cameron to get back on his hooves. He tried to keep himself from receiving another broken rib.

Mike and Twilight, meanwhile, were having a duel that was somewhat similar to one founf in Harry Potter.

Mike's red beam of magic was being countered with Twilight's own lavender one. His beam slowly inched its way toward Twilight.

Mike decided he had enough fun playing around and used much more of his energy. Twilight's beam succumbed in mere seconds, but she ducked out of the way of the beam.

Twilight began moving around, unleashing successive beams of purple energy at Mike. He created a small force field directly in front of him to block the energy.

Mike was having difficulty doing this and keeping a hold on Naomi.

"Whenever you guys feel like helping, I mean really. No need for your services here." Mike said, his voice oozing sarcasm.

Cameron got up and watched as Applejack lassoed all of Jake's legs and brought his him to the ground with a THUD!

"Geez, Cameron. Get that stupid look off your face and help me out of here!" Jake yelled.

Cameron had to give the pony credit, she had quite some strength behind her kicks, but he knew that all it took for him to win was to extend his arm and smack her across the head, which is exactly what went down.

Applejack slumped on the dirt road and Cameron untied Jake. Cameron unleashed a flurry of kicks towards Twilight, causing her to shift her focus from Mike. Mike sent a sleep spell in her direction and she fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Let's get out of here." Jake said as they heard the sound of a stampede of ponies.

"Right behind you." Cameron said as the three ran off in the direction of where the stallions had run off to.

Fortunately, they didn't have to run too far and the stallions were already at the barrier. Mike used his magic to break through the wall and ordered them all to get through it.

With a flash of red magic, the large group disappeared.

**Hours later…**

Naomi was finally coming to. She just had the most bizarre dream. She woke to a bed much larger than the one in her new apartment room. She saw that Jake, Cameron, and Mike were sitting on the floor talking.

"Ah, you're finally normal." Cameron said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naomi asked. "Where am I? What's going on"

"It's a long story." They all said.

**A/N**

**And so, the plot progresses!**

**Quick thanks to all of my readers. I know I should have done this before, but I'm doing it now. I'm so happy that you all like my story. This story has gone well beyond my expectations. You all are so awesome for liking this story, I'm gonna give you a muffin.**

***gives muffin* It's bran, hope you don't mind.**

**Anyway, on another note, Vegeta, what does scouter say about the views on our last chapter after the first day?**

**Vegeta: It's over 1000!**

**Damn straight. :D**

**As always, Read, Review, Fav, Follow!**

**End A/N**


	23. Fusion!

Naomi sighed out of complete exhaustion. She had been in the Royal Archives with Mike for the past three days. Normally back home, she would crank out work easily, quickly, and efficiently.

However, she did so with the aid of caffeine. Coffee, energy drinks, energy shots, even straight sugar gave her the energy needed to actually get things accomplished.

The unfortunate thing was, there were very few sources of the stimulant in Equestria.

_Sure, they have tea, but it tastes like mud. _Naomi thought. _Looks like it too._

Naomi closed her eyes for a moment to think of the past week.

Apparently, the past week was supposed to be Mare Heat Season. Naomi was only vaguely familiar with the concept. She, along with every other mare in Ponyville (including areas throughout Equestria), had turned crazy and started hunting down males for… unmentionable reasons.

Naomi shuddered. She hadn't remembered very much from her welcoming party, much less the following day.

Canterlot was somehow shielded from the heat, which meant the mares didn't go crazy. Naomi suspected that was the Princesses' doing.

_I guess it would be pretty weird if the princesses suddenly started hunting down random guys in the streets. _She silently laughed at the thought.

The four had agreed to stay out of Ponyville until the temperature went down a few dozen degrees.

The boys had proceeded to tell Naomi about their encounter with the being that called himself Keeper. Naomi at first had been skeptical at the tale, but they three seemed to be telling the truth. She immediately had grabbed Mike and went to the Archives to find any clue as to how they could get back home.

Much to her dismay, the books that filled the shelves numbered in the thousands. Another downside was that each book had _at least _five hundred pages. There were even some colossal ones that had over two thousand each.

Each one was less helpful than the last. In truth, all of the books were interesting, just not helpful.

She decided to look into some of the books that Mike had already read, ranging from energy projection to changeling detection spells.

What had caught her interest the most was the Time Distortion Spell.

"C'mon! Just let me read it!" she pleaded to Mike as he snatched the book from her grasp.

"No way! This spell could destroy reality if you use it wrong. Even I'm not going to ever use it." Mike shot back.

"But it'd be fun! Freezing time, going to the future, going to the past, it sounds so cool! Where's your sense of adventure?" Naomi asked.

"I have a sense of adventure!" Mike said quickly. "I just don't want reality to destroy itself."

"You're no fun." Naomi said.

"Why don't you go take a walk and practice some magic? Take one of the spell books with you." Mike said as he threw a random book towards Naomi who caught it with her magic.

"What? You're kicking me out?" Naomi asked.

"Heck yeah I am!" Mike said as he pushed Naomi towards the hall and closed the door behind her.

"Killjoy." Naomi muttered as she walked through and out of the castle.

As she walked out of the courtyard and into the actual city, she stole a peek at the title of the book.

_101 Need-to-Know Advanced Spells. Let's see here…_

She flipped through the book, briefly skimming the miscellaneous spells. Most were spells that Mike had already showed her.

She was about to give up on the book when she stumbled upon number sixty-seven: Spell Deflection.

_Though it drains one's reserves of magic considerably and quickly, this spell not only deflects a spell, but redirects it at the caster. Known to cause severe headaches and tooth decay if handled improperly. Use at the exact moment an unfriendly spell is cast for maximum effectiveness. _

As Naomi finished reading the description, she stumbled upon a crowd of ponies.

"Wonder what this is about." Naomi said to herself as she closed her book. Like the rest of the ponies, she directed her attention to the wagon in the middle of the street. The wagon unfolded, revealing a large stage and large props.

In a flash, smoke and sparkles erupted from the stage. When it cleared, a royal blue pony dressed as a magician had appeared. Naomi facehoofed as she realized who it was.

"Witness amazing magic and stupefying tricks from the Great and Powerful Trixie!" the mare announced. A she said that, small fireworks appeared over head, causing some ponies to gaze in awe.

_Nothing to do here. _Naomi thought as she rolled her eyes and continued reading about the Deflection spell.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is the most intelligent, cunning, and skilled pony in all of Equestria!" Trixie continued. "Only the Great and Powerful Trixie could defeat the dreaded Ursa Major and keep it from destroying Hoofington!"

At this, many ponies in the group began to murmur. Some cheered while some gasped at the feat.

"Pfft. Please." Naomi said, her eyes still trained on the book.

Trixie scowled and looked into the crowd, looking for the pony that dared to question her power.

"Does somepony doubt my magical prowess? Does one of you require a demonstration of my power." Trixie questioned.

"Sure, why not?" Naomi said as she closed her book and walked to the front of the crowd and onto the stage. She had an obvious bored expression on her face. "Show me what you've got, Weak and Pitiful Trixie."

In her mind, Naomi was going into a troll-mode quite similar to Mike's.

_A wild Trixie appeared!_

"Insolence! Perhaps you will appreciate The Great and Powerful Trixie's power now!" Trixie said. With her magic, she took off her hat and set it next to her. Then she used her magic to bring a rope out of a vase and sent it slithering towards Naomi.

_Wild Trixie used Wimpy Rope!_

The rope was unbelievably slow and slithered towards Naomi. As it reached her front hoof, she stepped on it. The rope struggled to escape.

_It's not very effective…_

Trixie stuggled to move the rope, but Naomi wouldn't budge. She gave up on the trick and used her magic to create a miniature storm cloud over Naomi.

_Wild Trixie used Thunder Bolt!_

As the cloud unleashed its lightning, Naomi used the new deflection spell. The lighting changed course from Naomi and headed straight towards Trixie. She wobbled, tying to keep her balance.

_It's super effective!_

Naomi walked over to a dazed Trixie and said, "Try to tone down the bragging next time."

She walked off the stage rather dramatically and the crowd began to disperse, as if nothing had happened.

"I think you might have over done it." Jake said as he landed close by to Naomi.

"Nah. She'll be fine." Naomi said as she looked back at a now unconscious Trixie.

"That's not really what I meant. You might've altered the plot line of the show." Jake said.

"Well, apparently that's not such a new thing with you three guys. Worst comes to worst, she stays out of Ponyville and Twilight doesn't learn anything new about friendship." Naomi said.

"You really should fix this." Jake said.

"Ugh, fine." Naomi sighed. She walked back over to Trixie and continuously poked her until she woke up.

"What do you want?" Trixie said spitefully.

Naomi muttered something unintelligible.

"What?" Trixie said, trying to hear.

"Sorry." Naomi finally said. Every fiber of her being screamed at her not to apologize. "You should go to Ponyville and try again."

"Ponyville, eh? I'll bet none of the unicorns there have the power to best the Great and Powerful Trixie." Trixie said, a cocky smile coming across her lips.

Through clenched teeth, Naomi said, "I'm sure they'll love you there."

"Don't think this is the last you will see of the Great and Powerful Trixie, for she will be back to redeem herself." Trixie said.

"Greatcan'twaitseeyoulaterbye." Naomi said quickly as she teleported away. She appeared next to Jake.

"How'd it go?" Jake asked with a smile.

"She didn't seem discouraged at all. She's still cocky as ever." Naomi said. "What did you do today?"

**At the Archives…**

Mike smiled over his latest achievement. Before him was what looked like an apple. However, on the inside, there was an orange.

_Now I can bite into an orange without having to peel it! And there's no annoying core!_

He smiled ear to ear at his creation. The spell he used was a type of fusion magic.

_I shall call it the apple-orange. Or should it be orange-apple?_

He shook his head and decided to call it the apple-orange. He took a cautious bite into the fruit. His eyes lit up in delight as he tasted both the flavors of an apple and an orange.

"Mike, you in here?" Cameron said as he walked through the door. Mike took a slice of the apple-orange and handed it to Cameron. "What is-?"

"Shut up. Eat it." Mike said.

Cameron took the slice and ate it, his eyes widening.

"Is this an orpple?" Cameron asked after he swallowed.

"A what?" Mike asked quizzically.

"You know, an orange and apple, but together. An orpple."

"I actually just call it the apple-orange, but yeah. Is it good?" Mike asked.

"It's an apple and an orange in a single fruit, of course it's good." Cameron said. "As cool as it is, is this really what you've been working on all day?"

"Pretty much. It was more for fun than anything else."

"What else can you make?"

"So far just the orpple." Mike answered. "I used something called fusion on the two."

"Like Dragonball Z kind of fusion?" Cameron asked.

Mike's mouth went open as he stared at Cameron in surprise and disbelief.

"Something wrong?" Cameron asked, confused.

"No… it's just that… well, I never really thought that you watched that stuff." Mike said.

"You watch a show about colorful ponies and magic." Cameron retorted.

"Touché." Mike said.

"Anyway, do you think you can fuse different things if you tried? How about ponies?" Cameron asked, rather intrigued by Mike's new magic.

"The fusing might be permanent, so I'd rather not use it on someone. Besides, I don't know if it would work." Mike said.

"You're no fun." Cameron said with a sigh.

"You're the second to say that today! I'm fun. I just don't want to risk my life." Mike huffed.

"C'mon Mike. Just try." Cameron said.

"Who, pray tell, would I fuse?" Mike asked.

"Try it with us." Cameron said.

"There is so much wrong with this conversation, Cam, it isn't even funny. For the last time, no." Mike said with obvious irritation.

"Wimp." Cameron jeered.

_Oops, must've hit a nerve. _He thought. Really, he had been kidding about the fusing, but he saw that it was too late now.

Mike's horn glowed a bright crimson and that was the last Cameron saw before blacking out.

**Courtyard to the Royal Castle…**

"Time Distortion?" Jake asked on the way towards the Archives.

"Sounds cool, right? Mike won't let me anywhere near the book though." Naomi said.

"Maybe he has good reason." Jake said neutrally.

"Probably." Naomi said. "But he could at least let me know what it does. I'm going crazy from guessing."

"It probably distorts time." Jake joked.

"No dur. But how does it distort time? Does it stop time and erase it? Does it simply slow time down?"

"When we get in there, just ask him. He'll get annoyed and just tell you. It usually works for Cameron." Jake said.

As they went through the garden, a unicorn walked up to the two. He had a hazel body and green eyes. His mane was dirty blonde with streaks of black. He had a purple circle as his cutie mark

"Hey guys." The mystery pony said, his voice a combination of two others.

"Uh, hi. Who are you?" Naomi asked.

The stallion smiled and facehoofed. "Silly me. Forgot to tell you who I am."

Jake thought the pony's voice sounded familiar, yet it seemed meshed with another, making it unidentifiable.

"My name is Mickam, but please call me Mick. Or Mickey. Whichever you prefer." The pony said.

"And how do we know you?" Jake asked, confused.

"You knew what I used to be. For simplicity, I was Mike and Cameron. Surprise!" Mick said cheerfully.

Both Naomi's and Jake's mouths dropped. Naomi was the first to recover from the shock.

"So… who are we talking to right now? Mike or Cameron?" she asked.

"Well, you're talking to Mickam. It's somewhat difficult to explain." Mick said with sigh. "Mike used a fusion spell on himself and Cameron. Therefore, I am now here."

"What the hell do you mean by fusion?" Jake asked.

"I mean that the spell caused their bodies, minds, and powers to fuse into one. Their personalities probably mixed too, but I can't tell as of yet." Mick said.

"And the personalities aren't conflicting at all?" Naomi asked, intrigued.

"Not as far as I can tell." He replied with a smile.

"This is weird." Jake said.

"Really? I thought this was all quite normal." Mick said sarcastically.

"Yep. Definitely Cameron." Jake sighed.

"The only problem with this fusion is the jumbled memories, but I'm sorting through them." Mick said.

"What's Cameron's favorite color?" Jake asked.

"Lime green."

"What's Mike's favorite app?"

"Angry Birds."

"How much money does Cameron owe me?" Jake asked.

"I'm not telling." Mick replied.

"Darn it." Jake said.

"As interesting as this is, we really should get Mike and Cameron back." Naomi said.

"That's just the thing, isn't it?" Mick said with a small chuckle. "I have absolutely no idea how to reverse this."

**A/N**

**Darned cliffhangers. Don't worry, the next update will be here soon enough.**

**Anyway, thanks for the shoutout, cyber5555. I appreciate it!**

**Still accepting chapter ideas. **

**As always Read, Review, Favorite and Follow!**

**End A/N**


	24. Fission!

"You couldn't have thought through the whole fusion thing before actually getting stuck together?" Jake asked, annoyed at his friends' lack of foresight.

"To be quite fair, it was Mike who lost his cool and Cameron who proceeded to goad him, not me. This isn't my fault, per say." Mick said calmly.

"Do you even know if this _can _be reversed?" Naomi asked.

"Nope." Mick answered smiling.

"Was there anything in the book that Mike read that could help?" Jake asked.

"Nope."

"Can we talk to Cameron or Mike?" Naomi asked.

"Not individually, no. Like I said, the spell merged them into a single person, me. One plus one equals one." Mick said. "I would guess that asking the Princesses for help would be a smart idea."

"Then let's get going." Jake said.

On the way to the Throne Room, Naomi asked, "So, Mick. You're basically Cameron and Mike. Are you a Brony or not?"

"Good question." Mick said as he thought about it.

_Hell yeah, but I'll be damned if I tell anyone. _Mick thought.

"I can't say." Mick finally said with a nervous laugh.

The three entered the throne room, much to Princesses' surprise.

"Sorry, to bother you, Princesses, but we have a tiny problem." Jake said as he motioned to Mick.

"Hi, I'm Mickam, but please call me Mick or Mickey." Mick said.

"Ugh, not another one." Luna sighed as she facehoofed.

"Luna, be polite." Celestia said. "What is the problem? Where are Cameron and Mike?"

"That's just it." Naomi said.

"The fools went and fused themselves. Mickey here is the result of the spell." Jake said.

Luna looked rather amused and surprised, while Celestia looked concerned.

"Are you certain?" she asked.

"Well, the proof is right here, Your Majesty." Mick said.

"Can you please explain this whole situation, please? It's confusing." Jake said.

"Of course. 'Mickam' is the combination of both Mike and Cameron. Instead of two minds in one body, there is only one. This pony is the mixture of all the traits and the personalities of the two. Fusion magic is just that, the fusion of two things to make a single one."

Mick sighed. "I already explained this to you, Jake. I thought I was pretty clear."

"Sorry, but the whole 'my-two-friends-are-in-the-same-body' thing was kind of a bombshell." Jake retorted.

"Fusion magic is not to ever be used on two ponies, however. Usually, if the fusion is a failure, the two fused minds battle over dominance for the body. This causes mental instability." Celestia said, her voice sounding very concerned. "When the fusion is perfect, the minds are no longer two separate ones but rather are a single mix."

"I'm hoping Mike performed the spell well. Did he, Mick?" Naomi asked.

"I dunno." He said. "I feel fine. Definitely no battle going on in my mind for dominance."

"Even when the fusion is correct, the new pony doesn't last for very long. Usually within a few hours does the new mind find difficulty processing the memories and thoughts of the two fusees. They literally think themselves to death."

For the first time in the relatively short period that Jake and Naomi had known him, Mick actually looked concerned. All the cheeriness had left his expression.

"Am… I going to die?" Mick asked softly.

"Are you finding conflicting emotions or thoughts?" Celestia asked.

"No. It's been smooth sailing so far. Rather pleasant, actually."

"How long has it been since the spell was cast?" Celestia questioned.

"About two hours." Mick answered. "I mean, I feel fine. Great, really."

"Is there a way to get Cameron and Mike back, Princess?" Naomi asked.

"I know of one, yes. However, it requires another to go into his mind and separate Mike and Cameron's own minds from his."

"And what would happen to Mick?" Jake asked.

Celestia hesitated. "He would simply be gone. He can only exist when the two are fused. For lack of a better term, he would die."

Jake glanced at Mick. He looked at the floor and seemed sad at the idea at dying.

_No shit, Jake. _Jake thought as he scolded himself. _Dying isn't exactly a happy thought._

"Mick? What's your opinion on this?" Naomi asked.

Mick didn't answer for a few seconds. His expression changed back to his normal smile.

"Serious moment alert." He said. "It's not really for me to decide."

"Actually, it is. This is _your _life." Naomi said.

"No. It's theirs. Besides, we have no idea how long I'll last even if I do choose to stay." Mick said. He turned to Celestia. "Do what you need to do."

Celestia nodded. "I'll require somepony to go and separate the two."

"I'll go." Naomi said.

"Very well. You need to make a fission between Cameron's and Mike's thoughts large enough so that I can split the two up. Once you're inside, you will be able to bend the reality of his thoughts in anyway you see fit. Once the fission is made, I'll proceed with the spell." Celestia said as she turned to Mick. "I'm sorry for this."

Jake walked up to Mick and held out his hoof, which Mick shook. "For what it's worth, you're much more fun to talk to than Cam."

"You ready?" Naomi asked Mickam. He simply nodded.

Naomi's horn glowed brilliant green. She suddenly found herself falling into a strange black abyss. She tried flying, but nothing happened. She fell to what she thought was the ground and started to feel herself lose consciousness.

With much effort, she kept herself awake. She sat up, her vision blurry. She brushed hair out of her face with her hands.

_Wait…_

_Loading…_

_Loading…_

_Done… I have my hands!_

She assumed that wherever she was, she wasn't bound to a pony body anymore. This assumption was reinforced when she stood up.

_I almost forgot what it felt like to walk on two legs._

She searched the ground for her glasses and found them not too far from where she landed. She proceeded to put them on.

When she saw where she was, she really couldn't help but stare. Around her seemed to be some kind of desert compound. From the looks of the Humvees and armored tanks, she guessed it was some kind of military outpost.

Protruding from the middle of the compound was a large frame that was similar to a sphere, but actually had many facets across it. She was in a wrecked administration building of some sort.

Her observations were put to an abrupt halt when she felt something press into the back of her head.

"Hold it right there, miss." The voice behind her said.

"Stand down, private. She's obviously a civilian." Said another voice, yet this one sounded familiar to Naomi. She turned to face the men and found herself looking down the barrel of an assault rifle.

"Yes, sir." The private sighed as he moved the gun away from Naomi's face, much to her relief.

She had originally thought there were only two men, but she now saw perhaps half a dozen. One ran up to the obvious leader.

"Sir, Spetznaz are barricading themselves inside the Dome." Reported the soldier.

"Gotcha, corporal." The man said before turning to Naomi. "Who are you, miss? What are you doing out here in a combat zone?"

"I-I'm Naomi. Who're you?" she asked.

The soldier took off his helmet and black sunglasses. Naomi saw that his rather short hair was a mixture of black and dirty blonde. He also had astonishingly green eyes.

"I'm Staff Sergeant Mickam. Please address me as Sergeant or sir." He said.

She heard a loud bang come from outside, and she heard one of the Humvee's rear view mirrors break.

"Sir! We need to attack the enemy position before they gain control of communications." The corporal said. Murmurs of agreement came from the other troops.

"I'm not rushing in there without thinking things through, corporal. " Mickam said.

_Wait, _Naomi thought to herself, _Cameron is always talking about Call of Duty. _She facepalmed. She was obviously in one of Cameron's thoughts.

She knew that she needed to get Mike and Cameron split up as fast as possible.

_Might as well start here._

"Corporal, scout the lot, take the M4A1 with an ACOG scope."

"Yes, sir." The trooper said as he crouched and slowly walked to the front door.

Naomi remembered what Celestia had said earlier about changing the reality of this dream world. She formulated a plan and tried to hold back a smile.

She guided the enemy sniper to the corporal, who until now had gone unnoticed. With a simply nudge with her mind, she made the sniper pull the trigger.

The corporal fell, but left no sign of blood.

"No!" Mickam exclaimed. His eyes flickered blue for a moment, but returned green immediately.

_Cameron is the one with blue eyes, so I must be getting to him._ Naomi thought. _I just need to get him a little angrier._

She made the remaining troops rush outside, only to meet a similar fate as their comrade.

She even sent in a few rounds from a grenade launcher for good measure.

Naomi watched as Mickam's hair went from just black streaks to full black and his eyes change from green to blue.

"Stupid noob tube!" he exclaimed, his voice no longer Mickam's, but Cameron's. "Suck on this camper!"

He pulled out a light machine gun and began firing directly at the sniper. Once he was gone, Cameron rushed to the entrance of the dome building.

The scene shifted immediately to a parking lot outside of a grocery store. Cars pulled into and out of the spaces.

She saw a teenager walk through the parking lot from the store. He looked to be either fifteen or sixteen years of age. He had the same startling green eyes and mismatched hair as Mickam.

Naomi instantly knew what to do. She brought a piece of tin foil into existence and placed under one of the cars that Mickam was going to pass.

She knew that Mike, much like Naomi, had a weakness for shiny things. Naomi had once gone under a truck to get to something that glinted as the sunlight reflected off of it. It had turned out to be a dime. In the process, she had gotten a piece of chewing gum in her hair.

If Mike was anything like her, he probably would do the same.

Mickam looked under the car, curious. However, much to Naomi's dismay, he just walked away.

Naomi decided to walk up to him.

"I wonder that is under the car." She said.

"It's probably tin foil." Mick replied.

"But what if it isn't?" Naomi asked. "It could be anything."

Mick's hair lost its black streaks for a second, but returned quickly.

"I doubt it's anything worthwhile." Mickam said as he continued his walk.

"It could be a rare coin. Or gold. Maybe a rare gold coin." Naomi suggested. Mick stopped, the black stripes in his hair fading until they were completely gone.

"Which car was it again?" he asked excitedly. His voice was one hundred percent Mike's. "Never mind, I'll just check all of them."

He rushed off and began his search.

"Good work. I'm retrieving you now." Celestia's voice said out of nowhere.

Naomi felt as if she were being sucked into a vortex, but upwards. She fought the urge to vomit as she hit the floor of the castle.

She glanced down at forelimbs and saw that her hands were gone once again. Naomi sighed before standing back up.

In the corner of her eye, she saw a bright white flash. She turned after the light had faded and saw both Cameron and Mike laying on the floor.

Cameron groaned. "Why is my neck so stiff?"

Mike shuddered. "I-I shared a body with Cameron. I shared a mind with Cameron. Oh, God. The horror."

Cameron got up and kicked him. "Shut up."

"Welcome back, bozos." Naomi said.

"Remind me never to do that again." Mike said. "I'm sore practically everywhere."

"I'm going to bed." Naomi said.

She took two steps and fell unconscious from exhaustion.

**A/N**

**Hola! **

**Not much to say.**

**Keep reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following.**

**End A/N**


	25. The Plot Thickens

Mike sat in the rather poorly lit Restricted section of the Royal archives. A look out of the nearby window showed that it was night.

After the fusing fiasco, he had decided to research the subject more thoroughly. In truth, he had barely read the first chapter before fusing with Cameron.

He had learned (in chapter two, no less) that once something was fused, it was difficult, if not impossible to diffuse them. It was also exponentially harder to diffuse ponies.

The process that was required to perform diffusion was slow, rather inefficient, and had a 50-50 chance of failure.

Mike was afraid to even _think _about what would have happened if the spell had failed.

The process required at least two unicorns, one to go in and separate the minds and one to actually reverse the fusion.

This meant that fusion couldn't be used willy-nilly.

Another thing that Mike found interesting was that the fused pony never lasted more than a few hours at the most. The sheer psychological stress of sorting through every memory, thought, and emotion was too much for them to handle.

_I wonder why I didn't- I mean why _Mickam_ didn't have that problem. _

Cameron and Mike had both retained the memories of Mickam, but they didn't remember everything that went down while the fusion was active. Just bits and pieces.

Mike was beyond curious at this point. The book provided useful information, but it was extremely limited. He wanted to find out more, but that would require an actual testing session. And that would require taking the risk of staying fused forever.

He sighed and flopped on the floor, hitting the unforgiving stone with his head in the process.

"Ow!" He exclaimed as he felt a headache coming on.

Suddenly, he felt something click in his mind. He remembered everything that he had read.

_It is difficult, if not impossible to diffuse two ponies from each other._

_It is difficult, if not impossible._

_Impossible._

"Screw logic, I'm the Hero of Will!" he said at the realization. "Thank you, possible concussion."

**Next Morning…**

"Have you seen Mike at all?" Cameron asked as he passed Naomi on the way out of the dining room after breakfast.

"Not since yesterday. He might still be in the library." Naomi answered.

"He really needs to take a break. Trust me, you don't want to see a sleep deprived Mike. It's not pretty." Jake said.

"Remember the Potato Incident?" Cameron asked.

"I still have the hole in my wall!" Jake replied.

Suddenly, Mike appeared out of thin air directly in front of them.

"Hey guys. There's some tests that I need your help on." He said.

"Do these tests by any chance involve fusion?" Naomi asked.

"Yes."

"Leave me out of it." She said as she walked in the opposite direction.

"Well, looks like you two are coming with me." Mike said.

"Do I get a say in this?" Jake asked.

"Nope." Mike answered as he teleported the three to a completely different area. The room was more or less what Cameron would think a lab looked like. There was everything a nerd would dream of. Beakers and test tubes littered the tables. Books were piled neatly in stacks. There was even an observation room.

"So you're going for the 'mad-scientist' look?" Cameron asked.

"Shut up, this was the only place that I could find that was actually private." Mike said. "It was apparently where three ponies died of unknown causes."

Jake's eyes went wide, as did Cameron's. They started to feel uncomfortable being in the room.

"Really?" Jake asked, freaked out.

"Nah, I just like messing with you." Mike said with a laugh. "The look on your face is priceless. Absolutely priceless."

Jake sighed in relief.

"So what exactly are we here for?" Cameron asked.

"My little project that I have been working on has to do with diffusing things after they have been merged." Mike explained. "Namely, ponies."

"But there's already a way. We already used the spell Celestia knew to separate you and Cam yesterday." Jake said.

"That spell is too crude for casual use. It has too many steps and requires brute force of ripping one mind from another." Mike said. "My way is much more… elegant. It uses only magic to separate the two and has one hundred percent chance of success."

"And you didn't figure this out yesterday?" Jake asked.

"I'm sure Mickam didn't want to risk the lives of Cam and I to experiment with it." Mike answered.

"And you're sure that this works?" Cameron asked.

"Yep. Let me show you." Mike said as he motioned towards a table with an orange and apple on its surface. Mike focused his magic and used the fusion spell on the two fruits.

A blinding flash appeared that caused the three to look away. When they looked back, on the table was what seemed to be a regular apple.

"Did it work?" Jake asked quizzically. Mike answered by slicing the fruit up and showing the inside, which was the same as an orange's.

Mike focused his magic again and there was yet another blinding flash.

On the table now were a sliced up apple and orange.

"See? Nothing to worry about." Mike said.

"But that's just fruit. That's completely different from separating two ponies." Jake said.

"Do you even know if this would work on actual people?" Cameron asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"That's where you two come in. I need to test the spell on you two and find out if it works." Mike said.

"Wait! I am _not_ fusing with Cameron!" Jake exclaimed.

"I have to agree with Jake. I don't exactly enjoy the idea of me dying from a failed experiment." Cameron said.

"I promise that nothing bad will happen. I swear." Mike said.

Jake and Cameron looked at each other.

"I'll do it in the name of science. Besides, it kind of sounds cool." Jake said.

Cameron sighed. "If I die, I'll kill you, Mike."

"Alright then. Jake, you shouldn't feel a thing. Cameron, you know what's going to happen." Mike said.

He focused his magic on the fusion and closed his eyes to shield them from the bright flash that followed.

As the light began to subside, Mike brought his notebook and prepared to jot down his observations.

He saw the crumbled heap of a single pony on the floor. It appeared as though the spell was cast correctly.

He studied the features of the pony.

He was taller than Mike by perhaps seven or eight centimeters, he couldn't tell without the pony standing up. He had Jake's reddish-brown mane, but black was found on the edges of it. His coat was a light tan.

Upon closer examination, Mike saw that the pony also had wings. He began to write down notes.

_Subject appears to have features of both fusees. Some traits of one are more dominant than the other's. For example, mane color of subject appears to be predominantly Jake's, but the edges are Cameron's._

The pony remained unconscious for another five minutes.

_After fusion, ponies enter a state of unconsciousness. This may be the sign of some kind of mental fatigue or the attempt of the mind to sort through the thoughts or memories of the two fusees._

Another minute passed before the pony's eyes slowly opened. He looked around for a second before turning to Mike.

"You okay there, buddy?" Mike asked. The pony opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out. "Can you say something?"

"Yes." The pony finally said. "Words… jumbled. Confusing."

Mike took note of this.

"What do you mean by 'confusing'?" asked Mike, intrigued.

"Difficult… finding right word." The pony answered. "But getting easier."

"Okay then. Are you finding any difficulty with thinking?"

"No."

"Then the fusion seems to be fine." Mike said with a sigh of relief. "What's your name?"

The pony thought about the question and tried to piece together a name for himself.

"Jack. Name's Jack." He said. He tried to stand up, but his legs were wobbly and he tipped over.

_Note: Movement becomes temporarily impaired after fusion._

Jack tried standing up again, only to meet the same result as before.

"Crap." He muttered as he hit the floor. "Third time's the charm."

On his next try, he managed to stay standing. Surprisingly, walking seemed to be easy for him.

"How do you feel, Jack?" Mike asked.

"Pretty good, actually." Jack answered. "You're Mike, right?"

"Yep. Do you remember everything Jake and Cameron knew?"

"Not everything. I'm still sorting through the memories." Jack answered.

"Fair enough. Jack, I've got quite a few questions to ask you." Mike said.

**Somewhere in the depths of Discord's Prison…**

"Bored bored bored bored bored bored bored." Discord repeated to himself. Really, it was an understatement of what he really felt. He hadn't been able to do anything in the last few thousand years.

He was locked in a place that was the equivalent to, if not infinitely worse than, solitary confinement. He could feel his sanity slowly breaking into small shards like a mirror. He had been unable to do anything except watch the world change around him.

Under Celestia's rule, Equestria was practically a utopia of peace. Ponies didn't normally have problems, and when they did, they were small and easily dealt with.

He had been hoping that the return of Nightmare Moon would have been quite a show to watch, but it had turned out to be a dud. Nightmare was defeated by the Elements of Harmony, a celebration followed, yadda yadda yadda.

Then came the Heroes. They at first had seemed to be his ticket out of his prison, but apparently they had signed up to be goody-goodies. They even escaped the lovely little prison he had created for them.

"And I'm left here encased in stone." Discord sighed.

However, he had one last trick up his sleeve, his ace in the hole.

When he had first been imprisoned, he had had his magic drained away to nothing. At the time, he couldn't have performed a spell even if he had tried.

But through the years, he felt himself get a little stronger. He drew his power from chaos and disharmony, but the rule of Celestia and Luna had all but eradicated both of his sources.

However, there was still chaos in the world, even if it was a mere fraction of what used to be.

He drew power from everything he could find, let it be quarrels between two ponies or some destruction of property.

He felt as if he were trying to fill a bucket with a dripping faucet.

He bided his time and saved up his magic so that he could one day destroy his prison and escape. Unfortunately, he didn't have nearly enough power to break his stone encasement. It would take many more centuries of waiting for him to do that.

He didn't think he could maintain his sanity for that long, though.

"If only there was more chaos these days. I just need somepony to cause it." Discord said to himself.

An idea came into his head suddenly. He smiled and then burst out laughing like he was crazy.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner." Discord said happily as he began to plan everything.

**At the lab…**

Jack sighed as he finished answering the barrage of questions that Mike had asked him. He didn't really want to answer questions, he wanted to move about. He wanted to find out what he could do, test his limits.

He stretched his wings, which were feeling cramped from lying on his sides. Flying also sounded like a good idea.

"Sorry about the boring questions Jack, but here comes the testing part." Mike said. "Give me a moment."

Just like that, Mike had teleported away.

Jack used this free time to his advantage and tried some basic flying. It felt good to actually move his wings. However the room was too small for any actual flying, which was what Jack really wanted to do.

Mike reappeared along with a mare. Jack tried remembering who the mare was, but the name eluded him. His thoughts finally snapped into place and he instantly remembered everything that Jake and Cameron knew about her.

_So her name's Naomi. She's strong, smart, fast, and super cute. Wait, who's the one that thinks she's cute? Jake or Cameron?_

"Naomi, this is Jack." Mike said. "Jack, this is Naomi."

"Nice to meet you, Jack." Naomi said.

"Same here." Jack replied.

"Anyway, what did you need me for Mike?" Naomi asked.

"I need to test the powers of the fusion. I want you to fight Jack." Mike said.

"I just met the guy." Naomi said.

"Don't kill each other." Mike said before teleporting to the observation room.

Jack looked over to Naomi, who shrugged. "I'm game."

"Alright. Ladies first." Jack replied with a smile.

"Gladly." Naomi said as her hoof connected with Jack's face. He rolled with the blow and jumped back. He spat a tiny bit of blood on the floor.

"Not bad." Jack muttered.

Naomi didn't let up though. She sent some blasts of energy towards him, but he dodged all of them and sped towards Naomi. It took him a fraction of a second to get from one side of the room to the other. He brought his hoof down to hit Naomi, but she dodged out of the way. She was so busy dodging the first attack, she hadn't noticed that Jack's leg was right under her.

Naomi tripped, but stood back up quickly. She turned and tried bucking Jack, but Jack had already moved out of the way.

Naomi knew that she wouldn't be able to hold her own in close quarters combat. She needed distance so that she could actually use her magic.

Jack sent a barrage of blows towards Naomi, who was barely able to block and dodge them.

She decided to use the blowback spell and sent Jack flying across the room. Naomi now had the distance she needed.

She sent a few sleep spells towards Jack, but he dodged them as if they were in slow motion. He was almost instantly next to her and kicked her in the gut. Winded, she tried teleporting to the other side of the room and set up a barrier.

Jack pounded on it, each time causing a larger crack. In the mean time, Naomi caught her breath and tried planning her next move. She was amazed at Jack's speed and knew that she couldn't maintain long-range fighting forever.

She also knew that even if she did manage to land any kind of attack, Jack would dodge it as if it were nothing.

With a final punch, Jack broke through the shield and rushed at Naomi. As he was about to hit her, she used the Deflection spell and sent Jack flying across the room and into a table. Books were scattered all over the floor.

Naomi used the precious seconds of time to send more knock out spells towards Jack. When she looked again, however, he was gone.

"Where did you-"she started, but was silenced by a quick thump on the back of her head.

"I win." Jack said as Naomi hit the floor.

"Good job, Jack. That's the last thing I needed to take notes on. I'll diffuse you right now." Mike said.

"Aw, can't I stay for a little longer?" Jack whined.

"Sorry, but I need to talk to Jake and Cameron and discuss this entire thing. See you later, Jack." Mike said as he horn was surrounded by a crimson aura. A blinding flash later, he was gone and Jake and Cameron were on the floor.

"How do you two feel?" Mike asked.

"I feel like my jaw was hit with a hammer." Cameron said.

"Same here." Jake said.

Sure enough, both of them sported the same injuries that Jack had taken during his spar with Naomi.

_Note: Injuries transfer after diffusion._

"See? What did I tell you? You both are fine, nothing to worry about." Mike said.

"Tell that to my teeth." Cameron muttered.

**Somewhere back on Earth…**

Discord couldn't stay out of his prison for long, he knew that. He needed to be quick with his plan and be back before his magic ran out and he was stuck in this world forever.

He had taken an appearance of a human, no longer a mismatched assortment of animals. His eyes still had to trademark yellow and red, which would probably strike fear into any he encountered.

Really, taking form of a human was like putting on an old shirt that he never had an occasion to wear.

His clothing was nothing remarkable, a black polo and khaki pants. He sported some brown loafers and a watch. He looked positively normal, at least by human standards.

He stroked the white beard that he had chosen to keep.

"Where to? Ah, right. 320 Auburn Hill Road." He said, remembering the address of the person he was going to visit first.

With a snap of his fingers, he was already at the doorstep of the house. To him, walking was extremely overrated. Too mainstream.

He knocked on the wooden door and waited before a man with rather great girth came and opened it.

"If you're from the church or bank, get off my property." The gruff man said.

Discord cocked an eyebrow. "No. I'm actually here to see your son."

"You want to see the runt? Fine by me." Fat-Man said. "Ryan, get your butt down here."

"Whatever." Replied a teenage voice which Discord assumed was Ryan's. He came down the stairs slowly, as if he didn't care.

He came outside and Fat-Man slammed the door behind them.

"What do you want?" Ryan asked.

"I need your help with something, young man." Discord said. "My name's Discord."

"Stupid name." Ryan said.

_What a gentleman. I like him so much, I could just smack him. _Discord thought.

"I don't mind it really." Discord said. "But back to the subject matter. I know you hate this place. Your home, your neighborhood and everybody in it. I know you hate the people who bully you and the people who just plain misunderstand you. What if I told you that I could send you somewhere else where you could just have fun and leave this behind? Where you could actually have friends."

"Where? New York?" Ryan asked.

Discord smirked. "Yes. New York. All you need to do is help me."

"With what, old man?"

"All in due time, my friend. All I need is your promise to help me." Discord said. He held out his hand.

Ryan thought about it for a while. "What the hell. I really don't care at this point." Ryan said as he shook Discord's hand.

"Wonderful! See you when you wake up." Discord said as he snapped his fingers. Ryan simply vanished from the face of the earth.

_And now for the other two. _Discord thought, chuckling.

**A/N**

**Whoa! Major plot advancement? Cliffhanger? **

**Anyway, thanks to Traintrax for help on the new plot idea.**

**In other news, I have created a Tumblr account for the sole purpose of answering your questions on the story. I will answer any and everything! Check it out!**

**It is farlow1. tumblr. Com**

**As always, Read, Review, Favorite, Follow, and all that good stuff.**

**End A/N**


	26. What Happened Here?

"Motherfu-" Ryan grumbled as he felt himself get smacked across his head.

"Wake up, buttercup." Said a harsh feminine voice, which he guessed wasn't his mother. The voice sounded too young.

Ryan felt, for lack of a better term, different. For starters, he couldn't feel his fingers. Or his toes for that matter.

Weirdest of all, he felt a large nub on his forehead.

"Are you inviting me to smack you again, or are you gonna wake up?" repeated the voice.

Ryan couldn't care less if he got hit again, but lying down on the floor wasn't exactly comfortable. He tried standing on two legs, but he lost balance instantly.

This earned the laughter from the voice he heard earlier. Up to this point, he hadn't bothered to open his eyes. He was actually afraid to.

He opened his eyes a bit. He stared long and hard at his hands, or rather, where his hands were supposed to be.

"The hell?" he asked to no one in particular.

"They're called hooves, Einstein." He looked up to see who had been speaking to him all this time. He had been expecting a regular human being, but the universe seemed to like proving him wrong.

The _horse _standing in front of him was bright pink all over, except for the mane. That was a deep cherry red with a silver streak through it. She almost looked like a piece of candy.

On her butt was a tattoo of a yellow triangle.

"My eyes are up here, perv." The pony said, annoyed.

Ryan was about to give a rather witty comeback, but was interrupted by a figure appearing out of nowhere. In the white void, the new comer was quite an eyesore, his body a mixture of numerous animals.

"Ah, glad to see that you're all awake and healthy." It said with a smile. "How do you like your new bodies?"

Ryan recognized the voice. "You're that one old dude, Discord!"

"Tell him what he's won, Bob!" Discord said dramatically. "Absolutely nothing!"

This earned an annoyed look from Ryan.

"But, yes. I am Discord, the 'man' that whisked you away from your pathetic lives so that you could have somewhat better ones." Discord said.

"What the hell did you do to us?" The pink pony asked angrily.

"Like I explained to you three earlier, I brought you here to change your worthless lives and make them better." Discord said.

"Wait, 'three'?" Ryan asked. He looked around and saw that besides him, there was only the pony and the monstrosity around.

"Behind you." Discord said as he pointed behind Ryan.

Ryan turned his head a full one-hundred-eighty degrees and saw a massive pony towering over him. If he had been a brony, he would have estimated that the pony rivaled Big Macintosh in size. His brick red body and black mane made him look all the more threatening.

_How could I miss _him_?_ Ryan thought.

A quick scan later, Ryan also discovered that the pony had metal hooves that resembled steel or another silver metal.

On his butt was yet another triangle tattoo, but this time it was blue.

He then checked himself over, finding that his entire body was a dark blue. His mane was a lighter shade of blue with gold streaks through it. Ryan looked at his rump, and wasn't surprised to find a red triangle on it.

"Right, the cutie marks. I will explain that and much more." Discord said happily.

**Back in Canterlot…**

"No!" Cameron yelled.

"Come on, dude. We need to get back to Ponyville." Jake grunted as he tugged on Cameron's leg.

"Just go without me. Go enjoy your ponies and leave me to my sleep!"

"You're going to Ponyville, it's been a week already." Mike said, struggling against Cameron's death grip to the bed.

"I'm not leaving this bed!" Cameron said.

"Like hell you are!" Mike exclaimed as he made a final tug, causing Cameron to lose his grip and fall out of bed.

"Naomi, we got him. Ready?" Jake asked.

"As I'll ever be." Naomi replied. In truth, she didn't want to leave the comforts that the castle had to offer either.

Mike's horn glowed a bright crimson and they were back in the apartment building's lobby. The temperature was substantially cooler than what it was the last time they were there.

Jake was the first to notice the commotion coming from outside.

"What do you think that's all about?" he asked.

"There's a simple answer to that, check outside." Mike said.

A quick peek out the window revealed a large crowd of ponies surrounding a small wagon. Naomi instantly knew what was going on.

She remembered her completely epic win against Trixie a few days ago, and wasn't exactly excited to hear anymore bragging from the egotistical mare.

"It's the Boast Busters episode." Naomi said.

"I'm not even going to pretend like I know what that means." Cameron muttered.

"It means that I'm out. Peace." Naomi said.

"Wait, don't leave me here!" Cameron pleaded.

However, Naomi had already teleported away to the Archives.

For the past week, Mike had kept the spell book titled "Time Distortion" from her. It was slowly driving her crazy trying to figure out exactly what it did.

Despite the numerous warnings, Naomi now decided that she was going to read the book. She opened the fragile looking cover and began reading.

"Chapter One…"

**Back in the Void…**

Ryan finished listening to Discord's entire lesson on Equestria and everyone in it. He had explained that he was the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony, hence the name.

Interestingly, the entire place was run by talking ponies and mythical creatures.

"If you have any more questions on Equestria, refer to Miss Diane here." Discord said as he motioned to the pink pony Ryan had met earlier.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Diane said. Despite her best efforts, Ryan could tell that she was withholding something. Ryan always had a kind of sixth sense for that sort of thing.

"Oh, come now. I know you're a closet pegasister." Discord said with a smirk.

"I admit nothing." Diane said, her face turning red.

Discord seemed to enjoy seeing her in discomfort.

"And now it's time for the Meet and Greet part of this session." Discord said and he teleported casually next to Diane. "This, as I said before, is Diane. She's wonderful little ball of laziness, aren't you dear?"

Diane then unleashed quite a number of insults and expletives at Discord.

"And quite a potty mouth as well." Discord said chuckling.

Discord disappeared and reappeared next to Ryan.

"This is Ryan. Don't let that calm face fool you, he has the worst temper of all you three. I certainly don't want to mess with him." Discord said. "One heck of a smooth talker, too."

Once again he teleported, this time to the remaining pony.

"This is Christopher. A guy of very few words. He hates practically everything and everyone! He's probably my favorite." Discord said.

"I'm still confused as to why we're here." Ryan said. "Why not someone else?"

"I was getting to that." Discord said as he cleared his throat. "There are such things in the universe called Heroes. I won't go into detail of them because I don't think you'll be able to understand."

"Try me." Ryan said.

**Back at the Archives… **

"… 'and never use this spell under any circumstances. _Ever_.'" Naomi finished reading the surprisingly short book. Her curiosity at this point was peaked.

Regardless of what the book said, she was trying the spell out.

First she needed an open space clear of any other ponies, seeing as the spell had the radius of over sixty meters.

She decided to try the road leading to Canterlot. In an instant, she had already teleported there. A quick look around showed that it was indeed quite devoid of any ponies.

Naomi focused and began the spell. Her magic charged up to a single aura on her horn then added another layer of magic. Then another.

Around her was a bright green circle, slowly spinning around her as unintelligible runes floated around her.

The circle spun faster and faster the harder she concentrated. She could feel herself starting to get a headache, but she wouldn't quit now.

A bubble formed over the circles, enveloping her.

In the final few seconds of the spell, Naomi felt as if someone was hitting her head with a sledge hammer.

Suddenly, the circle and bubble flashed out of existence, Naomi disappearing in a bright flash along with it.

**Back in the Void…**

"That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard." Ryan said as Discord finished his explanation.

Discord sighed. "Regardless if you believe it, It's what is real."

"That still doesn't explain why you chose us." Ryan said.

"Is it not obvious?" Discord asked. "You three are absolutely perfect foils to the three Heroes. Nega-Heroes, Anti-Heroes, Un-Heroes, whatever you want to call yourselves."

"And we are here because…?" Ryan asked, his patience near zero.

Discord sighed. "I'll spell it out for you. You are going to go and cause mayhem all over Equestria, release me, and help me get my revenge."

"You don't honestly expect me to _work_ for you, do you?" Diane asked.

"You really don't have a choice on the matter." Discord said with a smirk. "If you don't help me, you're not getting to that 'wonderful little place' that I promised you."

"I don't really care. Just send us back home." Diane said sternly.

Discord chuckled. "How about no? You're not going _anywhere _until I've had my fun. "

Ryan walked over to Diane's side.

"Diane, let's just play his little 'game'. It'll get us back." Ryan said.

"Don't tell me what to do." Diane shot back.

Ryan shook his head and turned to Christopher.

"What about you, bug guy? You want to go along with this guy?" He asked.

Christopher looked at him with surprise. He had never in his life been asked what he wanted. People had always ignored him and went along with whatever they wanted.

His opinion had always been thought of as worthless.

"Yes." The large pony replied, his voice deep and rather quiet. It had been the first time he had spoken in the past few months, and his voice almost cracked from the disuse.

Ryan was actually glad that he had agreed, it was refreshing to know that he wasn't the only sane person there.

"Cool. Diane?" Ryan said. "Now or never."

"Why should I help him or you?" Diane asked. "What have you ever done for me?"

"If you just help us, we'll get out of here. We'll help each other get out of this or we get stuck here. There's no discussing it, you're either in or out." Ryan said.

Diane looked at the ground for a second and sighed, loudly.

"Fine."

"Thank you." Ryan said. "First things first, how do I walk?"

**10 years later in Canterlot (Commence time traveling music)…**

Naomi felt unimaginable pain erupt across her body, so much so yelped. Well, almost. Really, no noise came from the shriek, just breath.

The pain faded, but a dull throbbing remained nonetheless.

"I think I hurt my everything." She muttered, opening her eyes.

Saying that what she saw wasn't what she had expected was an gross understatement.

Instead of a bright and bustling city, there lay ruins. She was only outside the front gate, or rather what was left of it. The wall that stood tall at well over three stories was reduced to rubble, stone slabs littering the floor as well as small shards of glass. She saw scorch marks on the some of the remaining parts of the wall.

A quick look around showed a road littered with discarded spears that numbered in the dozens, if not hundreds. Silver and gold body armor was not uncommon either.

She shook her head, as if to rid herself of the initial shock that she felt. She got up and tried to figure out what was going on.

She had originally planned on time warping only ten years into the future, if only to find out what became of her and her new friends.

_This can't be ten years in the future, can it? There's so much destruction… what happened?_

She hopped over what remained of the castle wall and saw the true extent of the damage.

Hundreds of buildings were simply obliterated, pieces of rubble were the only indications that they had ever existed. Some had minor damage to the walls and nothing else, while some were merely craters.

She dared look towards the royal castle, and found it rather intact, albeit some towers that seemed to be missing. Smoke rose from the unseen fires in the building.

Her bafflement at the scene was abruptly ended with a commanding voice booming behind her.

"Halt!" The voice ordered. Naomi turned and was met with spear centimeters away from her face. The wielder of the weapon was a dark grey guard pony, however the armor was different. There was no decorative plume on the top of the helmet, nor any fancy ornamentation that guard armor usually had. Instead of the usual golden armor, it was colored dull silver.

"Uh…"

"Quiet!" He boomed again. He turned to a white pegasus that Naomi had failed to notice until now. "What do you think we should do with her, Arrow?"

"Beats me, she's probably a changeling. It seems to have taken the form of the lieutenant." The pegasus named Arrow replied.

"Wait, I'm not-!" Naomi tried to get herself out of this situation.

"Did I say you could talk?" The pony nearest to her shouted. He turned back to Arrow. "We should probably use that changeling detection spell on her, just to be safe."

"On it." Said a brown unicorn who also went unnoticed by Naomi until now. His horn glowed brilliant purple before firing a spell at Naomi.

"Ow!" She yelped as the spell made a stinging pain in her left foreleg.

The guards, in turn, were surprised that instead of revealing a changeling scout, the spell had only succeeded in annoying Naomi.

"This is… different. The major will probably need to see this." Arrow said. "Unknown, bind her."

"Way ahead of you." The unicorn replied. He shot two spells at Naomi, both of them large circles. One surrounded her midsection and wings and tightened. The other shrunk and fit itself on her horn.

Naomi tried to move her wings, but they wouldn't budge. She also tried using her magic, but only succeeded in giving herself a headache.

"Don't try struggling, that's one of the most advanced binding spells in existence." Unknown said proudly. "Your wings and magic are useless."

"Somepony's smug, aren't they?" The earth pony chuckled.

"You know it's true, Steel." Unknown retorted. His horn flashed purple and the group disappeared from the rubble and reappeared in an office of some sort.

There were no windows in the room, yet it was lit well. At the far end of the room was a large table with a large map spread across it.

The two ponies that were at the table looked very familiar, one having a reddish mane, the other having a black mane. Their armor was somewhat more decorative and golden. Their helmets, however, were on the table.

"Sirs, Lance Corporal Steel reporting with a prisoner." Steel saluted to the two ponies who turned towards the trio.

The one with the black mane turned his attention from the map and looked over to the group, revealing a scar over the left eye. His colleague turned as well.

"Corporal, is there any particular reason why you've let a changeling inside of the H.Q.?" Said the one with a black mane.

"That's just it, sir. She's not a changeling." replied Unknown.

"And I suppose that there's just another Lieutenant Alona running around, hmm? A twin sister that I don't know about?" He said skeptically.

_They know my pony name? I'm in the military? When did that happen?_

"I really am Alona! I'm from ten years in the past. I used a time spell to get here." Naomi said.

"You know I would be inclined to believe you if the last imposter hadn't said the exact same thing. Before it blew two warehouses of supplies to pieces, of course." Replied the officer.

_Well, crap. _Naomi thought.

The red-maned officer put his hoof on the other's shoulder.

"Facade, she might be telling the-"

"I know." Facade answered. He turned to the soldiers. "Dismissed."

"Yes, major." They saluted and left, closing the large wooden doors behind them.

"What's your real name?" Facade asked.

"It that you, Cameron?" Naomi asked.

"Answer the question." Facade said seriously.

"Naomi." She replied.

"What's your favorite kind of cake?"

"Is that a trick question?" Naomi asked.

"What is the name of the book that you never finished?" Facade asked.

"Why would you know? I've never told anyo-"

"Answer. The. Question."

"I… never thought of a title. I couldn't think of a good name for it." Naomi admitted.

Cameron looked genuinely surprised.

"You're really her. Wow." He said.

"Welcome to the future." Jake said with a chuckle.

"Guys, can you clue me in on what exactly is going on? Why does Canterlot look like it got nuked? Where's Mike? Where are the princesses?" Naomi asked.

"That, is an interesting story." Jake said.

"What question do want answered first?" Cameron asked.

"Why did you ask those particular questions earlier? I've never told anyone about my book title." Naomi said.

"Well you kinda learn things when you're married." Cameron said calmly.

"_**What?!" **_

**A/N**

**Well, I'm baaaack! I'm sooooooooo sorry that my story is two weeks late. **

**Homework, projects, and band all came together and created what I'd like to call the "Perfect Storm".**

**I particularly want to say sorry to Traintrax, who specifically asked me not to keep him in suspense. **

**Updates will definitely not take as long as this one did from now on. (At least, I hope not.)**

**As always, read, review, and favorite this story. Please, I beg you!**

**Stay awesome!**

**End A/N**


	27. What?

"_**What?!"**_ Naomi said yet again.

"I can understand the initial shock, but was saying it seven times really necessary?" Cameron muttered.

"Yes! Why wouldn't it be?" Naomi exclaimed. "I'm married to a guy I barely know!"

"You barely knew me back in _your _time, maybe, but this is ten years in the future." Cameron said.

At this point, Naomi was hyperventilating. Questions flooded her mind and she wanted to ask them, but she couldn't get past the subject.

"Didn't you have a fling with Fluttershy or something?" Naomi asked.

"Seriously, was it not that much of a secret?" Cameron turned and asked Jake.

"It was practically written all over your face." Jake answered, smiling.

Cameron sighed and turned back to Naomi. "Just get on to a different subject."

Naomi, with some effort, forced herself to calm down.

"Alright, next question. Why does Canterlot look like it got nuked?"

Both Jake and Cameron looked at each other and sighed.

"It all started ten years ago, actually. Things were looking as if we would never get home. Mike wasn't finding anything in the Canterlot Archives, and we couldn't get back without some kind of spell." Jake said. "When we least expected, a newly built city called Las Pegas was completely leveled. Nopony died, but all the money and time it took to build the city was gone. It caused a serious economic disruption and made ponies fear that they were next."

"Princess Celestia wouldn't have any of that." Cameron continued. "She tasked an entire brigade of Honor Guard to deal with the 'terrorist attack'. In a month, the entire brigade came back sporting injuries. Again, nopony died, but they were all seriously hurt."

"All of them were ambushed by three incredibly strong individuals. News of this leaked out, and ponies everywhere went into extreme panic." Jake said. "For the first time in a thousand years, the Honor Guard, the elite of the elite, had been defeated."

"And the panic and chaos that ensued gave Discord the little push he needed to break out of his prison. After that, things basically went to hell. The Griffons were the first to ally with Discord, then the Changelings followed." Cameron said.

"Why didn't Celestia send the Elements of Harmony to seal Discord again?" Naomi asked, intrigued by the story.

Jake looked at the ground. "Discord wanted revenge for his imprisonment, and he got it the best way he could think of. He sentenced Celestia to the same punishment he had been given. _He encased Celestia in stone along with the Main Six."_

Naomi shuddered as she tried to imagine what it would feel like to be imprisoned in a place of pure nothing.

_It would be boredom at its extreme. _She thought.

"Everything hit the fan after that." Cameron grumbled.

"Wait, what happened to Luna?" Naomi asked.

"I think she got one of the worse punishments. She had to watchas her sister fell, helpless to do anything. She had to watch as her kingdom fell." Jake said. "Honestly, I'm surprised that she's still confident to keep this war going."

"And she did a pretty damn good job, too. We've almost won. All that's left to do is to retake Canterlot." Cameron said.

"Where's Luna now? Where's Future Me now?" Naomi asked quickly.

"To answer your first question, Luna is probably with General Shining Armor, checking up on operations around the city." Cameron said. "Future You should still be in the market district with Mr. Oh-So-Important-Chief-Of-Military-Intelligence."

"Otherwise known as Mike." Jake chuckled.

"Can I go see them?" Naomi asked.

"I don't see why not." Jake said.

"Wait, what if this is like one of those time traveling shows where if you meet your future self, the universe explodes?" Cameron said.

"Cameron, if that actually happens, you have my deepest apologies." Jake said as he rolled his eyes. "Let's move it out."

**Market District…**

"Honestly, don't they ever give up?" Mike said, sighing. "You would think the dumb bugs would have some amount of common sense."

He and Naomi had been sent here hours earlier to support the newly formed outpost. A few minutes after they had gotten there, however, the Changelings had come numbering in hundreds.

And yet, they were still able to hold off the love-sucking insects.

Naomi shrugged. "Don't know, don't care."

A rather young-looking unicorn walked up to the two. His dull silver armor signified that he wasn't an officer.

However, Naomi didn't think he looked right. A smirk was firmly planted on his face, and his helmet was missing.

"Private Flash, what are you doing? You're supposed to be securing the-" Mike said.

No sooner had Mike finished the syllable had Flash shot a sickly green burst of magic at Mike.

Naomi placed a force field directly in front of Mike and shot her own burst of Magic at the Private, who promptly dodged.

Naomi couldn't exactly say that she was surprised. One of Discord's powers was that he could corrupt certain individuals and make them turn against their officers.

However, he could only corrupt so many ponies for so long. Defections weren't common, but there were some serious cases of subordinates attacking fellow soldiers or completely ruining missions.

But there was something different about this stallion. He was, for lack of a better word, weird.

The stallion vanished behind green flames and reappeared in his original Changeling form. It launched two sickly spheres of energy and sent them towards the two officers. Both of them dodged, and Naomi levitated the Changeling and flung it through a nearby building.

Mike silently cursed as he picked himself off the ground.

"That sure was a cheap shot on their part." Mike mumbled.

"Weren't you complaining a few seconds ago that they weren't smart?" Naomi smiled.

Mike said nothing and glanced behind Naomi.

"They're persistent, I'll give them that." Mike said as he motioned for her to look. Naomi turned her head and saw Jake and Cameron walking up towards them. She scowled as she saw what seemed to be a shorter version of her.

_Changelings sure can't make themselves perfect copies of me, can they? _She thought. The last one that had tried posing as her had been just a tad bit too tall, but nothing too noticeable.

This Changeling made it much too obvious.

"Obviously Changelings." She said.

"Let's humor them." Mike said with a smile. Naomi returned the smile.

The trio approached the duo and Cameron said, "Good to see you both. We have a pretty interesting story for you."

Both Mike and Naomi looked at each other, suppressing smirks.

"Oh sure, 'Facade'." Naomi said. "What's the story? That we're supposed to surrender? That we lost the war?"

Cameron gave a confused look, as did Jake and the duplicate Naomi.

_Boy, are they bad actors. _Naomi thought.

"You okay, sweetie? Have you had a rough day or something?" Cameron asked.

The duplicate of Naomi visibly twitched at the mention of the word "sweetie".

Naomi let out a big sigh. "Seriously, who are you trying to fool? Your acting is horrible and you made me too short. Heck, why did you even make a copy of me and bring it along? What's the point of that?"

Jake and Cameron looked at each other.

"Coo coo, coo coo." Jake said as he rotated his hoof at the side of his head.

"Mike, did she have a heat stroke or something?" Cameron asked, genuinely concerned. "Can you get her some water?"

"Cameron, what's your favorite kind of cake?" Mike asked.

"Favorite?"

"Yep, he's Cam." Mike said with a sigh of relief.

"Then explain the mini-me." Naomi said, irked.

"Like I said before, it's an interesting story." Cameron said.

Past Naomi listened as Cameron explained everything to a skeptical Future-Naomi. Naomi was surprised at how tall she was. She was taller that both Mike and Jake by an inch. Cameron was barely any taller. She was definitely not as tall as Celestia, but still quite a sight.

She was also more beautiful and mature-looking. Of course, Past Naomi would never admit that.

"She could be faking." Future Naomi said.

Cameron sighed. "We've gone over that already, she isn't."

The Naomis looked at each other and didn't say a word.

"Was I really that short?" Future Naomi said, earning a scowl from Past Naomi.

"Will I really be that dumb?" Past Naomi retorted.

The two were now in a staring contest that would have sent chills down the spines of any unfortunate soul that would have been unlucky enough to be caught between them.

Of course, Mike and Jake were laughing at the sight.

Cameron tried changing the subject. "So, when are you heading back to your time?"

"Trying to get rid of me already?" Naomi shot a glare that caused Cameron to recoil, but only slightly.

"I'm just wondering."

"The spell requires a full day before I can use it again." Naomi answered.

"So what are you going to do for the time being?" Jake asked.

Mike had a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Are you freaking serious? Don't you know what her being here means?" Mike said. The entire group looked at him as if he were crazy. "She can go back into the past and change all of this!"

"You're right!" Jake said.

"Wait, what?" Past Naomi asked.

"The main reason why those three jerks working for Discord succeeded in starting the war was because the Princess tried playing it safe." Mike said. "If she had sent us in the first place, we might have been able to stop all of this."

"All we need to do is make sure they never destroy Las Pegas." Cameron said.

**In the (recently) destroyed building…**

Scout 5716-A couldn't have been happier. The Masters had sent him along with the assault force as they tried to overtake the newly built Equestrian Loyalist outpost.

His proficiency wasn't combat, however. It was watching.

His mission was rather simple, only containing three objectives.

The first was to watch the battle unfold and report the outcome. Although he doubted the Masters would be pleased to know that the attack had failed miserably, he was sure that the first objective was assured.

The second, and perhaps most important, was to capture and deliver a captive officer, alive, for interrogation. The Masters were quite clear that the captive had to be alive.

The second objective was botched. Drone 5716-A knew this. The ruined house and his wounds were sufficient proof. He wasn't mortally wounded, but he would most definitely need to heal for a day or two.

However, he still had the third objective.

The third objective was to gather as much information that could possibly pertain to the battle strategy of the Loyalists.

After hearing the golden-armored ponies talk for a while, he had learned that the small brown one was from the past. He had little familiarity with the concept of "time", but he had heard of such things from many of the Masters' conversations with one another.

Everything else he had memorized, but understood even less of. It made his rather small brain hurt.

He contemplated for a moment whether or not he should try achieving the second objective, but then thought better of it.

Go unnoticed, live another day. That was his creed.

At that, he vanished in a display of green fire.

**Back outside…**

"So, if you don't mind me asking… why Cameron?" Past Naomi asked Future Naomi after the three guys had departed to various places.

"Well, he's a nice guy." Future Naomi answered.

"You married him because he was nice? Is that what you're really trying to say?" Past Naomi said and raised an eyebrow.

Future Naomi sighed. "You'll understand when you're older."

"Don't treat me like a six-year-old!" Naomi huffed. "Answers. Now."

Future Naomi was about to retort when she was interrupted by a flash of dark blue light. Past Naomi blinked repeatedly, trying to get rid of the blinding aftereffect of looking directly into a teleportation spell.

"Princess!" Future Naomi said, snapping to attention.

Past Naomi's vision finally cleared, allowing her to see the tall figure before her.

_Is that really Luna? _Naomi thought.

Luna was incredibly tall, simply towering over the two ponies, even Future Naomi. Perhaps she was as tall as Celestia, if not more so. She looked vaguely like how she had been while she was Nightmare Moon, but there was no harshness to her appearance. She didn't look as young as she did, not by a long shot.

Behind Luna was a white unicorn in full golden armor. Even though age and stress had undoubtedly changed his features, Naomi instantly recognized him as Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle's older brother. His armor was battered, no doubt from ten long years of fighting, but his eyes still shone with energy and intelligence.

"Wow…" was Past Naomi's intelligent greeting.

Luna looked at Past Naomi, then at Future Naomi, and back again at Past Naomi.

"Did you mess up the duplication spell again, Alona?" Luna asked. "I told you already, picture yourself with very specific detail and-"

"Princess, this isn't a duplication spell." Future Naomi said.

**At the Canterlot Castle…**

"You're sure?" Ryan asked the damaged Changeling before him. Green blood oozed from the wounds on his sides and legs. One leg was obviously broken.

Ryan enjoyed sitting in the Royal seats that the Princesses of Equestria had once sat in. Not only were they comfortable, they also made him feel like he had absolute power over the universe.

It wasn't true of course. At least not yet.

"Yes, Master." The changeling hissed, its voice a mere whisper.

"Very good." Ryan said. "Thank you."

After he finished his sentence, Ryan blasted the Changeling with sickly blue-black energy, simply vaporizing the insect on contact.

The scout let out what could be compared with a yelp of pain, but it was barely audible.

"Ick. Why do you always kill them?" Diane asked as she looked at the charred area where the changeling once stood.

"We literally have millions of the bugs. I might as well have some fun with them." Ryan said.

Christopher just stood next Ryan, unmoving and not talking. Diane always complained about how creepy that was, but Ryan let it slide. It almost felt like he had a personal bodyguard.

"So what do we do now?" Diane asked.

"Nothing." Said a new voice. Ryan turned and sighed at the sight of his mentor/captor. Discord smiled as he looked at his three pawns. "Ryan, get out of that seat and stop playing 'The King Game'. You know that only I can do that."

Ryan huffed as he got up. "What do you mean by 'nothing', old man?"

Discord resisted the urge to moan at Ryan's casual use of the nickname "old man". He regretted ever having introduced himself to Ryan while having the white beard.

True, he was old. Very old. However, he didn't like being reminded of it.

"You're not going to do anything about this time traveler. Let them go back and warn of the' horrible future' that awaits them" Discord said, casually floating. "There really is no point. No matter what happens, I know that your past selves can prove more than a match for those annoying Heroes or whatever the Princesses have to throw at you."

Ryan wasn't too sure. He was incredibly powerful now, but ten years back, he had been weak. Been much too lax and forgiving.

Back then, he may have questioned whether or not all the destruction now was morally right. Now, he knew that there was no alternative.

Discord raised an eyebrow. "Or is there something that you wish to tell me? Do you not have faith in yourself?"

"Of course I do." Ryan said quickly.

"Then don't worry about the past and focus on the now." Discord said. "Chaos doesn't happen by itself, so get cracking."

Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"So what now?" Diane asked. "He's too full of himself. We don't know for sure if our past selves will get the job done."

"We do what he says. Nothing." Ryan said with a sigh.

"Why?" Diane asked quizzically. Even silent Christopher looked somewhat concerned.

"Because if he's determined to act like he has infinite power like an idiot, he's going to have to accept the consequences." Ryan said. "If this comes back to bite him, it's his fault."

**Back in the Market District…**

Both Luna and Shining Armor stood silent after Future Naomi finished the story.

Luna seemed to be in deep thought while Shining Armor looked confused.

"But time travel is make-believe. No spell exists that can do it." Shining Armor said.

"Maybe not a spell that you know about, but one exists in the Royal Archives." Past Naomi said.

"Preposterous. My sister skimmed every last book in the Archive. Twice. She even made copies and made her own personal library of them." Shining Armor said.

"General, what they say is true. Calm down." Luna said.

General Armor looked at the ground. "Yes, Princess. Forgive me."

"Your arrival here is of more help than you know." Luna said. "As you know, my sister and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony are imprisoned as statues in the Royal Garden. For the longest time, we have tried to free them, but every attempt we have made has ended in failure."

"Okaaaaay…" Past Naomi said anxiously.

"Not many unicorns are powerful enough to perform the spell required to free them." Luna said. "With you, however, we might be able to free them."

"What about Mike? Or you? Or Future Me?" Past Naomi asked.

"Mike, as well as 'Future You', will be required to provide a distraction so you can pass through the enemy defenses and get to the Garden." Luna said. "And I am not able to go. If I went, I would meet a fate similar to my sister's if not worse. If I were killed, then this war would be over. Everypony would lose hope and give up."

"Let's, hypothetically, saythat I make it to the Royal Garden. What makes you so sure that I can perform the spell?" Past Naomi said.

"Because I wouldn't expect anything less from my future apprentice." Luna said.

**A/N**

**Am I alive?**

***Punches self in the stomach***

**OW! Y-yay I'm alive!**

**Anyway, I'm back (for real this time)!**

**I'm sorry. It has been a month since my last update. I want to thank all of you for sticking with me through all of this time.**

**On a different note, I also want people to do a tiny little something for me. **

**I am coming up with a new story (Yay! More stuff from FarLow!) and I want it to be even better than this one.**

**I want YOU to write reviews telling what is good and what isn't good.**

**Please use this format:**

**1. What's good.**

**2. What's bad.**

**3. Rating (scale of 0.0 to 5.0)**

**I would really appreciate of you did this, but you can always just give random reviews/ comments as you see fit. I'm not forcing you to do this.**

**Again, thanks for reading, and as always, Read, Review, Favorite, and Follow!**

**End A/N**


	28. I've been gone for how long?

**A/N**

**Alright, almost done with the Time Travel Arc. I have received some complaints on it and I just want to say, don't worry. We'll get back to the comedy/random adventure stuff really soon. I just want to get some plot advancement in for those of you who are genuinely interested in the story. **

**Please forgive me if this part of the story was the least enjoyable. I will try harder, on my honor. **

**So, as compensation, here is a list of things that you can expect after this chapter: Shipping/Romance (I know you want it, don't lie.), MOAR comedy (basically what this story was based on, anyway.), and of course, random chapter ideas by none other than YOU, the audience (I can get rather lazy sometimes, if you haven't figured that out already).**

**Also, until my schedule clears up, or if this story begins to lose popularity, I am putting my second story on hold. I know, you're crushed. (Sarcasm)**

**I won't hold you up (if you haven't already skipped this author's note already). Onward to the story!**

**P.S. Solar belongs to MrUbaNub. Thanks for the OC name, dude, you're the best! If I didn't do you're OC right, I'll accept any punishment you deem worthy of a low-life such as myself.**

**End A/N**

Luna sighed as she relaxed in the room that had been given to her to function as her quarters. The room itself was nothing spectacular, barely any larger than a small bedroom, but Luna was happy to have a simple place to be alone and think.

After so much time overseeing all the military operations around Canterlot, she wasn't surprised that she was tired. Of course, this bliss wouldn't last long. She still had politics to get back to later, whether she wanted to deal with it or not.

Even though she was the leader of the Equestrian Military, she still had the duties of a princess. It was a difficult balance, indeed. She still needed to deal with the new Re-Housing plan proposed by the Royal Court.

_Oh, how I hate politics. _She thought to herself. How her sister had dealt with it (and with such ease), Luna would never comprehend.

The thought of her sister brought emotion with it, both of sadness at her imprisonment and joy of the very real possibility of her return.

"Ten years…" Her voice trailed off.

She shook her head. This wasn't a time to get sentimental. The plan to save her sister had not even begun yet and it was a bad move to count one's eggs before they hatched.

The success or failure of the mission depended on a lone individual, the past version of her student Alona.

Of course, she had complete confidence in Alona's magical capabilities. Even though the "Past Alona" lacked the experience that "Future Alona" had, she was still remarkable. She had learned the spell in two tries and seemed confident enough to go and sneak into the Castle grounds.

However, it would take much more than ability to get out of everything alive. Alona needed luck, and lots of it.

Any other teacher would have wished their student good luck. They would have hesitated at sending their friend into the midst of danger.

But, as Luna knew full well, Alona didn't need someone to wish her luck.

She almost seemed able to make it all by herself.

**At the Royal Castle…**

Ryan hated waking up. Sleep was blissful and sane compared to reality, especially a reality filled with nonsensical things like magic and talking ponies.

He often grew tired of the painting of a world on which he was imprisoned. He was almost certain that someone had simply dumped buckets of bright colors anywhere they could.

He almost felt a stab of regret of ever having agreed to come to this world. It was starting to annoy him a great deal.

Of course, if he hadn't come here, he would never have met his friends nor would he have learned how fun it was to mess with ponies.

His friends were not spectacular by normal standards. Ryan imagined normal friends high-fiving each other and hanging out while doing random things around town. Perhaps they got into a little mischief, but it was nothing too horrible and could be regarded as "playful antics".

Not himself and his friends, however. They were the exact inverse. Their kind of "fun" included the destruction of numerous square miles of private property, torturing prisoners, fighting full-on battles, and the occasional execution.

The most polite term that could have possibly been associated with the three was "absolutely insane".

_Ten years of being corrupted by Discord will do that to a person, I suppose. _Ryan thought as he got out of his bed.

He sniffed the air and was rewarded with the odor of smoke and fire.

"I love the smell of destruction in the morning." He sighed. "Well, I better eat breakfast and start today like another other-"

He was interrupted by the sound of the enormous bedroom door slamming.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty! Up and at 'em!" Diane exclaimed. The look of urgency on her face was one that Ryan rarely ever saw. "We have a problem!"

Ryan just sighed.

**Just outside the Inner Gates (One minute earlier)…**

Like many of the original residents of Canterlot, Solar hated looking upon what his city had become. Sugar's Bakery was utterly destroyed, as was the once bustling Canterlot Market Street. Many of his foalhood friends' homes were reduced to rubble, and his had probably seen better days.

Practically nothing remained but memories, bittersweet ones at that.

Before the war, he had been an aspiring astronomer. It had been a very real possibility that he could have worked with the Royal Science Department.

His brother had always been supportive, even though he knew next to nothing about astronomy. His brother had been one of the Royal Guard, always proud of his position and responsibility. Solar had always been a little jealous of the compliments his brother received from their parents, but not enough so to hold any ill will against his brother.

Then the Battle of Hoofington happened. His brother had been the part of the detachment Princess Celestia had sent to capture the three terrorists that had destroyed the newly-built city of Las Pegas.

It had been a month before he saw his brother again. He had come home beaten both physically and mentally. After that, he barely spoke and began disregarding orders. He was on the verge of being discharged from the Guard on the account of mental instability when he finally snapped out it.

He then formally resigned from all military work and packed his things to go as far away as possible.

Solar, right before his brother left for some unknown destination, had learned all of what happened.

"Those three ponies aren't normal, Sol." His brother had said. "I used to think that the Guard was the best group of fighters in the world, but Hoofington proved me dead wrong. They, the three I fought, acted like it was a game. They would kidnap somepony one day, beat him up, and send him back. My friends weren't the same after they'd been taken, nor was I. They ruined Hoofington in a matter of _days_, Sol. We can't match that. Equestria can't match that…"

He never saw his brother again after that. His parents tried to find him, but it was almost as if he had vanished.

"You enjoying your day dream, Corporal?" A gruff voice said behind him. "Get your head of the clouds and stop lagging behind the rest o the group."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Solar said back to Major Facade.

Solar's military career had started just after Princess Celestia's capture, as had most of the other ponies in the military. It had been a rallying call for many, picking them up from their fears and allowing them to fight for something they believed in. They wanted their monarch back, and they would stop at nothing to do just that.

He had been in plenty of campaigns, seen dozens of towns reduced to rubble, and watched as his squad mates were captured through it all.

Changelings never killed their opponents; they simply captured them by using their relatively weak magic to stun them. Then they would take them back to their hive and slowly drain away their captives' emotions as food.

It had previously been thought that Changelings only ate love, but they actually ate whatever emotion they could get their hooves on. It just so happened that love was the most nutritious.

"Hold position." Captain Agile said. The platoon stopped just outside the gate. Changelings were literally right in front of them. "Stop the cloaking spell, Corporal Solar."

"Yes, sir." Solar said as he stopped focusing his magic. The orange shroud that covered the entire platoon shimmered twice then winked out of existence.

The expression on the four Changelings' faces was absolutely priceless to Solar.

"Have fun, colts." Major Facade said with a grin as he looked at his soldiers, cold hatred of the enemy in their eyes.

**In the Royal Garden…**

"This plan is so stupid." Naomi mumbled quietly to herself as she past another huge area of hedges in the garden maze. The entire maze was larger than Naomi had ever been in and she doubted that if she didn't have Luna's set of directions, she would never find an exit.

She wanted to simply fly in the air and leave, but that would attract the attention of the numerous Changeling guards. Teleportation was also another no-no because it would produce a bright flash along with it.

"Another left and… oh, thank you, it's the exit." She said with a sigh of relief.

"Did you hear something?" An extremely soft voice said. Naomi quickly shut her mouth, hid behind a hedge, and stopped moving.

"I did not hear anything." Another whisper replied. "It must have been the wind."

"It may be the fighting at the Inner Gate. The Masters ordered all of the guards over there."

"Then why are we standing here?" Whisper Number Two exclaimed. "The Masters will have our heads if we do not help in the fighting!"

"But I like my head."

This earned a sigh from the other.

"G-920 you are the least intelligent drone I have ever had the misfortune to meet." Whisper Number Two scolded.

"Thank you, Captain." Said Whisper Number One.

The other one sighed. "Just get moving."

Naomi heard their hoofsteps gradually get softer as they left and decided that it was time to move as well.

Perhaps it was the excitement she felt or just plain craziness that led her to start humming the theme to Mission Impossible.

After unnecessarily sneaking behind multiple statues and large plans that populated the Garden, she found the center.

She stopped her playful humming as she gazed upon the statue forms of Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and the rest of the Mane Six.

Twilight, Rarity, and Celestia all looked as if they had been taken by surprise. Rainbow Dash had a look of defiance on her face, as did Applejack. Fluttershy was hiding behind her hooves. Strangely, Pinkie Pie was _smiling._

"That's… weird." Naomi noted quietly. "Time to get you all out of there."

Her horn sparked to life and was surrounded in a green aura. Naomi closed her eyes and began the spell. It required complete concentration, a strong will, and, unfortunately, a five minute charging period.

She heard explosions off in the distance and worried about the battle.

"I hope they're okay…" her voice trailed off as she refocused herself.

**Back at the Inner Gate…**

"Fourty-three!" Cameron shouted as he sent another Changeling flying into the walls of the castle.

"Darn it! Let me catch up, will you?" Mike exclaimed just before he used the blow-back spell on a group of the insects that were threatening to engulf him. "Hah! Fifty-two!"

Both of their heads turned in response to a deafening explosion from behind. Smoke drifted up from the smoldering crater left in the explosion's wake. Naomi casually walked up and out of the hole covered in dirt.

"One-hundred-seven. Don't worry I counted them all." She said as she walked back towards the fighting. "Thanks for playing, guys."

The two merely stared at each other.

"Your wife is psycho, dude." Mike said.

"And you're an idiot." Cameron shot back.

Before Mike could respond, he was blasted thirty feet from a sickly blue orb of energy.

"Well howdy-ho." Said a dark blue pony from behind. "It's you 'Hero' guys again. Don't you ever get tired of losing? Not that I mind, really."

Cameron received his own ball of energy and was blown back into the Inner Wall.

"Diane, get the ginger. I'll get the blonde. Christopher… you do what you want, dude." Ryan said.

Ryan stepped forward to Mike who was stumbling back to his hooves. His horn glowed dark blue as he readied a finishing shot.

Before he could discharge it, Naomi's hoof connected with the back of Ryan's head, sending him to the ground with an audible thump.

"Seriously, can I not leave you alone for a minute without you dying?" Naomi scowled.

Cameron merely shrugged before dodging a devastating body slam from Christopher, obliterating the wall behind Cameron in the process.

Ryan got back up and barrage Naomi with magic, making her dodge behind a fallen slab of stone. Ryan quickly diverted his attention to Cameron who was about to move in on Christopher.

"I'm gonna plant a dumbass tree!" Ryan said as he levitated Cameron off the ground and slammed him back down at a high speed. The resulting mini-earthquake shook the ground vigorously.

Instead of continuing the beat down, however, he turned to Mike who had just imprisoned two dozen changelings in a magically-created box and chucked it clear off the side of the mountain on which Canterlot was built.

Ryan used his magic to thrust Mike into the Inner Gate. Unlike Cameron or Christopher, Mike didn't have the incredible physical toughness that allowed the latter to hit hard objects without any damage.

He slumped to the ground without a sound.

Ryan looked up at the sky and could see blurs of brown and red moving rapidly across it. He couldn't do anything for Diane, as any magic he performed would hit her as well. She probably wouldn't have wanted help, anyway.

He turned to the area where he had last seen Naomi.

"Sorry to keep you waiting-agh!" Ryan said shortly before Naomi delivered a painful uppercut to Ryan's jaw.

**Back in the garden…**

_Concentrating, concentrating, concentrating… ugh, this is boring. _Naomi thought as she passed the two-minute mark of her spell. Unlike the time she used the Time Distortion spell, she actually felt good, aside from being bored out of her mind.

It took only a few more seconds before the spell was completely done charging. All Naomi had to do was release each pony one at a time.

She decided to release Pinkie Pie first. She focused on Pinkie's statue, which glowed bright pink in response and slowly turned from stone to her real body.

Suddenly, Naomi felt unimaginably giddy. Her mind raced with all the possible songs that she could sing while performing the spell. She even started giggling for no discernible reason.

She finished freeing Pinkie and instantly gained control of herself.

"What the heck?" She asked herself. "That was weird."

Pinkie Pie was still unconscious and was snoring loudly.

Naomi moved on to Applejack. Almost as soon as soon as she began the unsealing, her thoughts became clouded with thoughts of farm work and bucking apple trees. She felt the urge to speak with unnecessary southernisms as well.

"Ah have no idea what's goin' on." She said, her voice accented like that of a cowgirl. She covered her mouth with her hooves.

She ended the spell as soon as possible. Applejack was out cold as well.

"Testing, testing, one two three, testing." She said to herself, making sure that her voice was normal.

This process continued as she went down the line of statues. When freeing Rainbow Dash, she felt sure that she could defeat Discord by herself. With Rarity, she cringed at how much dirt was on her hooves and mane. With Twilight, she wanted to read a library's worth of literature, regardless of the topic.

"This is one weird spell." Naomi grumbled as she moved finally to the largest statue in the Garden, Princess Celestia.

Oddly enough, she felt no surge of emotion or personality change when she released Celestia, only intense heat.

Celestia's statue radiated a golden aura before finally disappearing completely, leaving only the crumpled body of Celestia on the ground.

As per Luna's instructions, Naomi teleported the unconscious Mane Six plus Celestia to the headquarters.

She then signaled Cameron, Jake, and the others that she was done by firing a flare spell into the sky, which exploded brilliant green as soon it reached a decent altitude.

"That was really easy." Naomi disbelievingly. "I wonder why they never tried this plan before…"

As she was about to teleport away, a dark blue bubble surrounded the entire castle grounds. It was similar, if not identical, to the barrier spells that she had learned while with Mike in the Archives back in her time.

Her thoughts were interrupted as her future self landed on the hard stone floor in front of her with a sickening thud.

Naomi stared dumbfounded. Future Naomi looked as if she was repeatedly hit with a baseball bat all across her body. She wasn't moving and her breathing was rough and irregular.

Landing next to her was a dark blue pony that Naomi assumed was the leader of the Evil Heroes, Ryan. He bent his head down to Future Naomi.

"You once asked me a long time ago, 'if it was my choice, would I have done what I did'. I didn't give you an answer then. Well, I've had time to think it over." Ryan said softly, almost solemnly. "There is no choice for me, you, or anyone else in this stupid world on what we will or won't do. There are no choices, only actions."

Future Naomi didn't reply and continued breathing heavily. Ryan turned from Future Naomi in disgust towards Past Naomi.

"And as for you…" Ryan said menacingly. "You can't win, even if you somehow manage to escape and stop this specific timeline from happening by going back in time. It'll all just end up the same way. Hell, _I_ can't win no matter what I do. I just endure and try to make things go my way. You would have been smart to do the same."

"Get out of here!" Future Naomi yelled at Past Naomi.

"I'm glad to see that you're still conscious." Ryan said mockingly. "Do you want to watch as I beat down your younger self?"

Past Naomi stood petrified, unable to do anything as Ryan created a ball of black energy, sparking with blue lightning.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you." Cameron said, coming out of the bright crimson flash of Mike's teleportation spell.

Before Ryan could even spit out a single syllable, Cameron bucked him into one of the numerous stone benches of the Garden.

The blue bubble that had formed over the Castle Grounds sputtered and went out almost as if someone had flicked a switch.

Naomi opened her mouth to thank Cameron, but he cut her off.

"Teleport now, talk later!" He exclaimed. Naomi didn't need him to tell her twice. Quick as lightning, the three had disappeared out of the Garden in a brilliant emerald flash.

**Loyalist Headquarters…**

Consciousness seemed to far from Twilight Sparkle's grasp. Whenever she tried to reach it, she seemed to float further away.

Her dreams were clouded with her and her friends' fight against Discord, Spirit of Chaos. Her mind continued to rewind the memory with vivid detail, almost as if she were trapped in time.

Fluttershy's yelp as she was the first to turn to stone. Rainbow Dash still zooming through the air and then meeting a similar fate and eventually falling to the ground.

The feelings of hopelessness and inability to save her new friends haunted her.

She suddenly jolted awake as she felt the coldness of ice water as it was splashed into her face. She sat up and began coughing before being tackled with what felt like a… hug?

"W-what?" She sputtered as her dizziness cleared and her sight was restored. All around her were the other Elements of Harmony, all of them exuberant. Especially Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be crushing everypony else by the sheer force o the hug.

Twilight smiled back and looked around. "Where are we? What happened?"

"I don't have a clue! First we were trying to fight that meanie, Discord, and then we all started turning into statues, I think Fluttershy was first and the Dashie, then me!" Pinkie Pie said before taking a giant breath in. "But now we're here in this spooky room and, hey isn't that Princess Celestia?"

Twilight took a few seconds to piece together the shockingly fast Pinkie Sentence before deciphering the final part of it. She turned to two large alicorns, one bright as day and one dark as night.

"Princess!" Twilight exclaimed as she looked up to a smiling Celestia. "And… Princess Luna? Oh my, you're tall!"

"What an intellectual observation." Luna said with a drop of sarcasm, though Twilight didn't seem to notice.

"Luna, be polite." Celestia said. To the others, it looked completely ridiculous to see Celestia chastise her sister, who was as tall as, if not taller than, Celestia.

"Yes, sorry, Tia." Luna said softly, almost childishly.

"As for your questions, my dear pupil, I believe that these three can explain everything better than I." Celestia said motioning to Cameron, Jake, and Mike, who had just come through the large wooden door.

"Facade?" Fluttershy asked, her eyes lit up at the sight of him and her voice was at a slighter higher volume than it usually was. "Is that you?"

Cameron's face turned a dark shade of red.

"Um, hi, Fluttershy." Was all he could think of to say. Jake chuckled while Mike put his hoof on Cameron's shoulder.

"Good job, stud. Are you going to tell her about your wife, or should I do it?" he whispered.

"I'll get to it later." Cameron said, his blush growing more vivid in color.

"So what happened? What's going on? Why are you blushing?" Twilight asked, her questions were shot out of her mouth like bullets from an assault rifle.

"Well, it was an epic story where I took the ring into Mordor, killed the Jaberwocky, and went on to save Narnia." Jake said. Everyone looked at him as if he were insane. "Never mind…"

Mike cleared his throat and began the true story. "What actually happened was…"

**At the Base's Hospital…**

Naomi hadn't left her future self's side since she arrived. The medics had told her that she was going to be fine, but Naomi wanted to make sure of it herself.

_It's kind of weird to see yourself beaten up. _Naomi thought. _It makes you want to be sure that you don't die._

"Are you feeling okay?" Past Naomi asked.

"Besides feeling like I got hit by a car, I'm fine." Future Naomi said. "Don't worry about me. A couple of bruises won't kill me."

Past Naomi looked at the ground. "I'm sorry you had to get hurt because of me."

"I said don't worry about it." Future Naomi said. "You did great. You've really helped out everypony here. I'm sure we'll win now. You just need to get back to your own time and fix everything there."

"What makes you so sure that I can do it?" Past Naomi asked. "Why do all of you have so much faith in me?"

"You're really thick, aren't you? We're not placing everything on just you." Future Naomi replied. "You still have Cameron, Jake, and Mike. There not as childish as you think. You can trust them to help you. I did."

Past Naomi didn't say anything.

"If there's anything you want to ask about the future, I'd do it now. I don't think it'll be any good to you, though. Once you change the past, the future won't be the same as it is right now." Future Naomi said.

Past Naomi raised her head. "I've asked this so many times. Why Cameron?"

Future Naomi simply laughed. "It may be cliché, but I just love him. It's as simple as that. Just don't try to over think it. You'll learn when you're older. I promise."

Past Naomi sighed explosively. "I guess that's as good an answer as I'll get from you, huh?"

"Yep." Future Naomi smiled.

Time seemed to slow in that particular room as an awkward silence filled the air.

"Bye, me." Past Naomi said to Future Naomi.

"Bye."

**Back to the present (Commence time travelling music)…**

"Cameron, you idiot!" Mike yelled as he walked into his room. It was perfectly normal, aside from the fact that the bed was on the ceiling. "When do you even have time to do this?"

Mike tried pulling it free with his magic, but whatever adhesive Cameron had used was incredibly strong. Mike didn't want to break the bed, but he didn't feel like sleeping on the couch.

"When I get my hooves on him…" Mike said to himself before being tackled. "Wha- Naomi!"

"Shut up and listen! I need to talk to you three guys!" Naomi said, still pinning Mike to the ground.

"Where have you been?" Mike asked disbelievingly. "We thought you were dead or something!"

"What do you mean? I've been gone for, like, a day." Naomi said, confused.

"Naomi, you've been gone for almost a month." Mike said.

**A/N**

**Annnd…. Done.**

**Hope you like the surprise 4000 word chapter! Thanks to all of you who rated m story. I always appreciate constructive criticism.**

**In other news, I'm always up for having your OC's in my story! The more the merrier, but I can't promise an incredibly important role. But if this doesn't bother you, or if you simply want the advertisement of your name or story, be free to message me. Only message me though. No submissions via review, please.**

**Well, not much to say!**

**As always, Favorite, Follow, Review, and Read! **

**End A/N**


	29. That's Weird

"Whoa, back up. _How long?" _Naomi asked disbelievingly.

"One month, three days, seven hours, thirty-eight min-" Mike answered before being cut off by Naomi.

"Why'd you keep track of the exact time?"

Mike shrugged.

"This isn't good." Naomi said with a concerned look on her face. She racked her brain for how she could have missed the return time of the Time Distortion spell by so long.

"Naomi, what's going on? Where have you been?" Mike asked. "We've been trying to find you everywhere."

"I need to get to the Princesses, Mike. We are in some deep trouble here." Naomi said as she quickly got up. Mike prevented her from leaving the room by standing in front of the door.

"Calm down and explain. Seriously, it can't be that bad." Mike said.

Naomi sighed and explained everything that had happened to her. The future, the war, and the Evil Heroes. The imprisonment of the Princess was shocking to Mike, but he kept quiet. Throughout the battle part, he sat captivated. At the conclusion of the tale, Mike looked at her disapprovingly.

"I told you not to use the Time Distortion spell." Mike grumbled.

"Hey, if I didn't use the spell, we could all meet the same fate as our future selves." Naomi said.

"That's not the problem." Mike sighed with an irritated look on his face. "That spell can only be used every thirty seven years. I was saving it for an emergency."

"Hey, I think what we've learned is more than enough to justify me going to the future." Naomi said.

"We'll see." Mike said. "Get going!"

"Wha- oh right!" Naomi said, remembering that she needed to tell the princesses. "Make sure to tell the other guys and meet me at Canterlot."

"Aren't you coming back?"

"No. I've got something to do with Luna." Naomi answered before disappearing in a green flash.

Mike sighed as he went through the door to his apartment to the hallway.

"How come she gets to have the time travelling adventures?" He mumbled to himself.

**Unknown area…**

"You did well, Way." Keeper said as he looked over his partner's work with the Fourth. "You did exactly as I asked."

"What would you do without me, friend?" Way chuckled.

Like Keeper, Way could alter his appearance at mere whim. At this particular moment, he was in his favorite form: a trim, young man with brown hair. He wasn't muscular, nor was he frail-looking. Everything about him was like a normal human male, except for the eyes. His eyes were bright canary, with radiance that could rival the sun.

Way chose rather modest clothing. A simple red cotton t-shirt and jeans were all that he wore. This was the complete opposite of Keeper's classy apparel.

"The Lord of Matter will always need help from the Lord of Time, I suppose." Keeper chuckled as well.

"I simply must ask, Keeper. Do you not find these Heroes' adventures entertaining?" Way asked.

"That is absolutely sick, Way! They are people, for Lord's sake!" Keeper chastised his smiling companion.

"Oh, come off it, friend. You can't honestly say that you haven't found them amusing." Way said.

"Indeed I can, Way. I advise you not to think too highly of yourself. They are filling out destiny, just like you and I." Keeper said tersely.

"I had no intention to hit a nerve. My apologies." Way said, catching on to Keeper's genuinely serious tone.

Keeper waved his hand. "It is alright. What is done is done." He smiled once again, prompting Way to do the same.

"Another question has been plaguing me, Keeper." Way said as he brought a miniature version of Equestria into being. Tiny birds buzzed through the skies as clouds sprawled across the sky. "Why choose this… Equestria realm?"

"I am afraid I do not know what you are asking."

"Oh, come now." Way snorted. "This world is unbearably cheery. The sentient life there is foolish in the ways of the universe. The land is unscathed from conflict. I would hardly call it a decent battleground between good and evil."

"And that is where you are wrong." Keeper smiled.

Way's face crumbled into a frown. "I haven't the foggiest notion as to what you mean."

"That world is unscarred from true evil. The forces that claim to be it are weaker than they truly know. The same goes for the beings that pride themselves with the title of protectors of the good." Keeper said, his voice turning coldly logical. "This world is a fresh canvas for it all. A painting for the struggles between pure good and evil."

"I'm sure that there are many others like it in the universe." Way said. "Why a world with magical equines?"

Keeper shrugged. "I don't know why. The Master's reasons are purely his own."

Way stopped the conversation there and stared thoughtfully at his miniature projection of Equestria. His eyes never averted from the image of the Fourth.

"She is truly the Fourth?" Way asked, his eyes not moving from the image.

"Yes."

"Does she know what lies before her? What she must go through?"

"No. Her hardships will remain unknown to her until the time is right." Keeper answered.

"Why would you withhold that from her?" Way asked. He knew the answer as well as Keeper, but he wanted to know for sure.

"Because it is her destiny." Keeper said, echoing his many uses of that reason to justify his doings.

"An interesting one at that…." Way's voice trailed off.

**At the Royal Castle…**

"…and I have no idea how much time we have left until the Evil Heroes destroy Las Pegas." Naomi finished explaining the situation to the princesses.

Bothe Celestia and Luna were skeptical at first when Naomi reiterated her tale. However, Celestia was taking the idea of her kingdom's utter annihilation. Luna seemed to remain skeptical, though.

"We merely need to send in the Royal Guards to protect our subjects." She said. "I imagine that these 'Evil Heroes' are powerful, but they can't take on a contingent of Equestia's finest."

"No, princess. They were strong enough to beat all four of the future Heroes by themselves, not to mention the other ponies fighting there." Naomi said.

Luna thought about the logic behind Naomi's statement and conceded. "Then what to you propose we do?"

"From what you've told us, I don't believe that there are many options for us to choose." Celestia added.

"Well, I have three ideas." Naomi started. "Option one, we send in the elements of harmony. Considering they were turned to stone along with Celestia, I don't believe that's the smartest way to go."

Luna nodded while Celestia listened intently.

"Option two, we give up." This earned her scolding looks from the two princesses and Naomi quickly amended. "It was just a joke."

"We don't have time for such humor." Luna mumbled.

"Option three, and really the best way to go, you send me and the guys to Las Pegas to protect it." Naomi said.

"Impossible. Only Very Important Poniescan even see the city. So far only Canterlot and Manehattan bureaucrats have been able to go watch the construction." Luna said.

"Luna, considering what they are going to be doing, I think it will be fine to let them in." Celestia said.

"Right, sorry Tia." Luna said.

"There is one flaw to your plan, Alona." Celestia continued. "You said that the Heroes were defeated in the future by these rogues. What makes you believe that you can win now in the present?"

"I was getting to that." Naomi said. "I, the other guys included, need some kind of training. You know, learn how to fight and stuff."

Celestia pondered this. Luna was already jumping to the solution Naomi had expected her to.

"You can be my pupil! It's not fair that Tia gets to have her own apprentice while I don't." Luna said with both excitement and cheerfulness.

"Luna, do you even know how to have a student? You've never done this before." Celestia said cautiously.

"Oh come on, big sister. I am more than capable of teaching Alona." Luna said. "If you can teach Twilight Sparkle, I can teach Alona. How hard can it be?"

_Oh no, she's openly challenged the universe. This can't be good. _Naomi thought as she found herself levitated by a bright blue aura and teleported out and away from the Canterlot Castle.

**In the Ponyville Library…**

"I'm sure I could take a message." Spike said to the two ponies standing at the entrance to the Library.

"No. We need to see her _now_." The dark blue one said, yet again. Spike could already tell that this stallion wasn't about to take "no" for an answer.

His bright pink partner, on the other hand, wasn't all that interested in the conversation. She scanned the gravel at her hooves as if it were one of the most interesting things in the world.

"Now." The blue pony repeated, this time with enough force to cause a little trickle of fear to arise in Spike.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. Hold on." Spike didn't hesitate to move his tiny legs as fast as they could carry him down the steps to the basement.

Spike wasn't exactly surprised to find Twilight reading _Plants: They Have Feelings Too._ A boring piece of literature, to be sure, but nonetheless, it was a book. And Twilight loved books. She was so involved with it that it took quite a bit of nudging and yelling from Spike to snap her out of it.

"Wha- huh?" Twilight said as if she had been suddenly awoken from a deep slumber.

Over the years as her number one assistant, Spike had learned to deal with Twilight's many reading-trances

"There's somepony at the door, Twi." Spike said. "They said they only want to speak with you."

"Do you know who they are?" Twilight asked. She didn't normally get visitors aside from her friends and the occasional pony looking to check out a book.

"No, sorry. They're just saying it's 'urgent and that I can't be part of the conversation'." Spike said, mocking the dark blue pony's exact words from earlier.

"Well, there's no reason to keep them waiting." Twilight said, standing up and beginning to move towards the stairs. "You should stay down here until I come back. It probably isn't anything that you need to worry about."

"Okay, Twi." Spike said as Twilight went upstairs. He had no desire to go back up to the blue stallion again.

A full minute passed before Spike began to get bored and genuinely curious.

_Whatever they were talking about must be extremely important to have taken this long. _He reasoned as he fiddled with a quill.

Curiosity finally overcame him.

He was about to try and sneak a peek upstairs when he heard a short yelp that he instantly recognized as Twilight. In the blink of an eye, he was up the stairs and at the top step.

Twilight lay on the floor, rather motionless. Spike, being the baby dragon that he was, made to the conclusion that she was dead. Either that or extremely tired.

The door was wide open, yet no sign of the blue pony and pink pony remained. It was almost as if they had disappeared.

"Twilight!" He exclaimed as he rushed to her side, almost slipping on the freshly scrubbed wooden floors.

He shook Twilight vigorously, trying to get his caretaker to regain consciousness.

"Twiiiiiiiliiiiiiight." He said as he shook her.

He was rewarded seconds later with a hoof in the face, causing him to fly meters across the room.

"Get off of me, you little…" She hissed, her tone as cold as ice water. She stood after wobbling for a few seconds, but not before muttering some unintelligible words under her breath.

"Are you okay, Twi?" Spike asked, still caught off guard from the whole hoof-in-the-face event.

Twilight didn't respond. She looked across her entire body, scanning it as if it were completely new to her. She flexed her foreleg, slowly moving it forward and back.

She smiled for a mere moment then turned to Spike.

"Uh, yeah. Just fine, Spike." She said. "I need to… see the princesses in Canterlot. I'll be back in a day or two."

She concentrated for a full three seconds before a slight shimmer of purple aura surrounded her horn. Her smile reappeared.

"Don't die while I'm gone." She said.

Without another word, she disappeared in purple and white light, causing spike to shield his eyes with his claws.

"Uhhh, okay, I guess?" He said, confused at the sudden chain of events. He shrugged after a few second of standing there at the door. Twilight often needed to go to Canterlot, so it wasn't weird that she was going now. He refocused himself on preparing dinner for one.

**At the Canterlot Training Grounds…**

"No! You need to dodge, not block." Princess Luna scolded Naomi as yet another bolt of lightning struck her, causing a rippling display of electricity to cover her and send her flying into a nearby wall.

Not having felt the sensation of pure electricity passing through one's body before, Naomi was a little bit more than overcooked. The lightning itself wasn't fatal, just a simple training spell devised by Luna herself. Granted, it still delivered a fair amount of kick.

To her credit, Naomi wasn't complaining. She wasn't incredibly enthusiastic about being shoved into mock-combat right of the bat, but she knew training couldn't be all about studying books and taking notes.

Luna was a far better opponent than Naomi had thought. She had imagined a gentle princess, teaching about how to defeat enemies with as little brute force and as much gentility as possible.

_Boy, was I wrong. _She thought as she picked herself back off the floor, smelling the odor of burning hair. _Her_ hair.

Luna sighed. "I thought you would show more talent than this. Don't hold back and strike me with full force."

"I'll give you 'full force'." Naomi said before blowing out one of the tips of her hair which had caught fire.

Naomi sent white-hot fireballs directly at the princess. The room's temperature rose a few degrees as the fireballs moved through the air at blinding speed.

Instead of blocking the balls of flame, as Naomi had planned her to do, she simply vanished a fraction of a second before they reached her. The attack continued its movement until all the orbs impacted on the wall.

Besides some scorch marks and a few scattered flames, no visible damage had been done to the wall.

Luna reappeared as quickly as she left right in front of Naomi.

"That's why you dodge instead of block." She said. Naomi really couldn't believe what she'd seen. Luna hadn't used a teleportation spell of any kind, and instead managed to evade at incredible speed.

"I think we are done for today, Student." Luna said, turning from her new apprentice.

"I just- but- how?" She sputtered. "How are you so fast?"

"My sister and I are the rulers of this kingdom as well as supreme commanders during war. The job kind of requires you to have combat skills." Luna answered, cleaning the scorch marks on the wall instantly with her magic.

"So Celestia did this with Twilight too?"

"Oh, heavens, no. Celestia is absolutely pacifistic in every way. She would never teach her pupil how to fight." Luna said with a smile. "But then again, I'm not my sister."

Naomi was beginning to question whether or not she should have asked for training in the first place.

"Now, off you go. Try to think about what you did wrong. We will meet again tomorrow morning at three." Luna said before teleporting away.

"Three?!" Naomi shouted in disbelief. "It's official. Never should have asked for help."

She exited the building, defeated and angry. Many of the Royal Guard were practicing outside in their own training courses. Hoof-to-hoof combat, a firing range for magic, and numerous test dummies kept the relatively bored Guards busy during times of peace.

Naomi simply strode on by, not gaining the attention of anypony. She had free time, and that in itself was bliss. However, she had nothing to do.

Canterlot was a large place, one of the largest that Equestria had to offer. There was an abundance of things to do, including the many fashion shows, restaurants, and sporting events.

This was, at the moment, irrelevant to Naomi. She didn't enjoy losing in the slightest. To be beaten so quickly and easily by Luna was, at the very least, embarrassing.

She was determined to get an edge tomorrow morning. The only way to do this was hard work, dedication, and a cramming session in the Archives. Here had to be at least one spell in there that could help her win.

She headed in the general direction of the Archives, but she wasn't exactly sure as to where it was. The castle grounds were nothing more than a maze of buildings surrounded by smaller building surrounded by even smaller buildings.

Naomi was thinking about asking for directions when she spotted a familiar lavender unicorn a few meters in front of her. Oddly enough, she didn't have a book with her, nor were any of her friends around.

"Hey, Twilight!" Naomi said, trying to get her attention.

Twilight turned her head for a second then resumed walking to her unknown destination.

_She must not have heard me. _Naomi thought. She ran directly to her side and said "hi" again.

Twilight sighed explosively and rolled her eyes.

"Leave me alone. I don't care who you are." She said, her voice cold.

Naomi stopped for a second out of pure bafflement. Twilight was a little anti-social to be sure, but Naomi hadn't thought that Twilight would ever be so short with somepony.

"Uh, Twilight. It's Alona." Naomi said.

"Don't care. You're still not leaving me alone." Twilight said, quickening her pace. Naomi immediately caught up.

"Are you okay, Twi?" Naomi asked. "You're acting really different."

"Well, there's a pony who can't seem to take a hint." Twilight said, her voice oozing with malice. "Leave. Me. Alone."

Naomi stopped. This wasn't Twilight, it couldn't be. Never in the show had she been so terse with anypony.

An idea popped into Naomi's head.

"Twilight… wait right there please." Naomi said.

Twilight groaned but complied. "If it'll get you off my back, sure. Whatever."

Naomi's horn flashed emerald green as she readied the Changeling Detection spell. This Twilight was obviously an imposter sent by the Evil Heroes. Naomi would expose the Changeling, subdue it, and take it to the princesses for questioning. It was an extremely simple plan.

A small beam hit Twilight square in the leg, causing her to yelp as if she had been burned.

"What was that for?!" Twilght exclaimed, still herself .

"I could have sworn you were-" Naomi started.

"Idiot." Twilight insulted before turning and walking away briskly.

_What the hell is going on? _Naomi thought to herself, restarting her journey to the elusive Archive building.

**A/N**

**Cliffhangers. Amazing literary devices, aren't they?**

**Quick announcement, I am looking for a proof reader. I've discovered that in many of my chapters, there are a few errors that can be really distracting. I want you all to have the best reading experience I can offer. **

**So yeah, Proof Reader Wanted!**

**And maybe someone to make an animation of the story too. Just kidding. But that would be cool, wouldn't it?**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed the 29****th**** chapter! You all are awesome, and I hope that you will continue to Review, Favorite, Follow, and P.M. me. (I'm so lonely!) **

**Far Low signing off.**

**End A/N**


	30. Backfiring Plans

Keeper had little to nothing to do, really. Way had departed earlier for other work matters long before. Time apparently required an incredible amount of maintenance. No one was around but Keeper.

Most of his work required a mere fraction of his attention. It was a simple matter of going through the motions.

But with these Heroes, it forced him to pay close attention. Bend reality so that everything played out correctly.

In fact, if it weren't for Keeper's meddling, the Heroes would have found a way to escape their new world.

On one occasion, the matter could have been solved by reading a piece of literature in the so-called "Royal Archive" on dimensional warping. A crude method that used an even cruder use of magic, but a solution nonetheless. Keeper made sure it was wiped from existence. How these idiotic equines had ever discovered the planes of dimensions was beyond Keeper's comprehension.

He had let this society go unchecked for too long. Let them prosper without keeping them on the right path. And now it was going to face a violent rebound from those many millennia.

Keeper chastised himself for being so careless, but decided that the situation was for the best. He detested the "ponies" anyway and this situation was going to solve itself in time.

But it did bring questions to his mind. What was the true extent of his power? Even _he _didn't know. He watched millions of worlds simultaneously, yet he let one slip. How many more worlds like this one were there? He could only juggle so much at a single time.

It wasn't time for questions, though. He turned back to the projection of Equestria. He changed its orientation until he found the one individual he had taken quite an interest in.

The one Hero that would destroy the balance of good and evil. The one that would come to leave friends behind and never look back. The Betrayer.

"That's the title I gave you, you know." Keeper said to the scale image of Naomi.

"So innocent in actions, yet the harbinger for all that will cause your downfall. And, in turn, the downfall of your newfound 'friends'." Keeper smirked at the irony of it all. "How The Maker creates these convoluted schemes, I will never know."

**At the Royal Castle…**

Naomi had always been a good navigator until today. She must have been to the Archive on a dozen different occasions, but she had always started off at the throne room. The maze of buildings was simply endless.

As she passed yet another corner, she decided to swallow her pride and ask for directions from a nearby pony.

"Hey, do you know where the Archive is?" Naomi asked the yellow unicorn with an open book cutie mark.

"You're heading there too, huh?"The pony scoffed. "I wouldn't head over there if I were you. Ms. Sassypants is apparently heading there as well."

"Who?" Naomi asked quizzically.

"Nothing. Just one of my colleagues, Twilight Sparkle." The other pony rolled her eyes. "She's usually just an introvert, but she was really short with me when she asked for directions."

"_Twilight_ asked for directions to the Archive?" Naomi asked incredulously. "I thought she was practically married to that place."

"Weird, right?" The unicorn replied. She held out her hoof. "Name's Aurora."

Naomi looked at the outstretched hoof for a moment, unsure how to go about it.

_Is it like a handshake? _She thought frantically. _How do hooves even hold on, anyway?_

Naomi met the hoofshake and found that there was no hidden magical force behind the action. It simply happened.

"I'm Alona." Naomi said.

"Weird seeing another alicorn besides the princesses." Aurora said before she fully interpreted her thought. "Wait, _are _you part of the royal family?"

"Oh, no." Naomi said. "I'm just a special case is all."

"Well, to be perfectly honest, you're existence doesn't make sense." Aurora said, frowning. "The only pure alicorns are those directly from the royal bloodline."

"What do you mean by 'pure alicorns'?" Naomi asked.

Aurora sighed. "To be an alicorn means to be one of the most powerful ponies alive. They are the perfect combination of all three pony races. Magically, they have the greatest capacity for it. They many times stronger than any earth pony, and though they rarely choose to fly, are very swift."

Naomi nodded and prompted for Aurora to continue.

"Besides being born one, there is only one way to be an alicorn. And even then, it can only be achieved by a unicorn." Aurora said. "You would have to absorb the powers from the other two races. Pegasi would lose their wings and earth ponies would lose their ties to earth magic. All in all, it would ruin the victim's lives."

"Who would do that?"

"There was only one pony who even tried to accomplish this. He went by the name of Discord." Aurora said.

"Really?" Naomi said in disbelief.

_This wasn't in the show._ She thought.

"Yeah, the whole story is that Discord was once a regular unicorn. In that time, alicorns were a little more common. Discord was never happy with his relatively poor capacity for magic. It's said that his special talent was simply causing mischief, but to a very small extent. He would be able to break an expensive vase or something, but that was about it. One day he invited one of his pegasus friends to a star gazing event on top of a hill. When his friend was distracted, Discord took the pegasus magic from him."

"He had a horn and wings by then, right? He was basically an alicorn by then, right?" Naomi asked.

"No, he was what is called a pseudo-alicorn. He was a great deal more powerful, but it paled in comparison to pure alicorns." Aurora explained. "He fled the scene quickly so that he could find an earth pony before his actions became known. He found an earth pony groundskeeper in a garden tending to some animals. He tried the same process with the pony, but something strange happened. Discord absorbed too much earth magic and it caused his entire body to warp into an amalgamation of numerous animals. The transformation ultimately made him more powerful than any alicorn then or today, instilling him with strange powers unused by any other pony. But in the end, it caused to him to lose all sense of morality he had as well as bringing him to the brink of mental instability."

Naomi mouth was slightly agape, which she soon realized and corrected. "That's one weird story."

"That's why it doesn't make sense how you aren't part of the royal family and still an alicorn." Aurora said. She eyed Naomi for a long moment then asked. "Are you sure that there isn't anything you want to explain?"

"I've got nothing for you, sorry." Naomi shrugged apologetically.

Aurora's demeanor suddenly lit up. "Oh well. I guess it'll just stay a mystery!" She said brightly. "Nice meeting you."

As the yellow pony set off, Naomi stopped her.

"Wait! Where's the Archive?" She asked.

"Oh right. Sorry." Aurora said, pointing straight ahead. "Take a left up ahead. It's right there."

"Thanks!" Naomi said before rushing off over in that direction.

**Ten Minutes Later…**

"My apologies Miss Sparkle, but without either of the princesses' permission you aren't stepping hoof in this room." The guard said as he kept Twilight outside the Archive, despite her many protests. He never knew Miss Sparkle to have such…. a potty mouth.

Twilight sighed explosively and turned away from the guard for a moment before saying, "Say, what is _that?_"

"What's what?" The guard as confusedly. He scanned the entire hallway the lay in front of him and saw not one odd thing. The glass windows were without a blemish, and the walls were without a single crack.

"That. Do you seriously not see it?" Twilight said again as she pointed towards the elusive item of interest.

"No. Where is it?" He asked. By now he was thoroughly intrigued by what Miss Sparkle saw. He didn't usually have much to do at his post.

"Maybe you should take a closer look at it." Twilight offered.

He looked back at Twilight and then to the hallway.

"Wait… is this a trick, Miss Sparkle?" The guard asked cautiously. He might not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he knew when to take precautions.

"Nope. Not at all. Where would you get a ridiculous idea like that?" Twilight asked. That was good enough for the guard, and he inched his way away from the door he was ordered to protect.

All of a sudden, he felt a tingling sensation from the back of his head, which quickly flowed to the rest of his body. In three seconds he hit the ground with a satisfying THUMP. The guard's loud snoring confirmed the Twilight's sleep spell had worked.

"And that, ladies, gentlemen, and those of unspecified gender is how you get past stupid guards." Twilight smirked before entering the Archive.

Not far behind, Naomi was casually making her way to the Archive. She was perfectly content to marvel at the numerous and unique colored windows that filled each hallway of the castle. She never was one to stop and look at art, but there was something about it that just made her look a little more closely at her surroundings.

As she turned the corner, her view was invaded by the shape of the sleeping guard, drooling as he snored on the stone floor.

This alone was enough for Naomi to realize something was wrong. True, she didn't know the guard, but from the many others she had met, she didn't think sleeping on the job was normal.

Another red-flag was that the Archive door, normally firmly closed and locked, was slightly ajar. By the time she put two and two together, she was creeping through the door, listening to what seemed to be Twilight's voice.

"Why did I even agree to this? Oh wait, I didn't." Twilight said sourly as she piled more books at the far side of the room. Naomi noticed that she had gathered at least two dozen so far.

"Uh, Twilight…" Naomi started still not really getting what was going on. However, she understood that this was not just a library checkout.

Twilight spun around to see who it was, and sighed.

"You again? God, I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"You're not Twilight, are you?" Naomi asked, pretty sure of the answer.

"Good job. You're spot on. I award you five bonus points." The imposter jeered. "Too bad it doesn't really matter."

In a blink of an eye, Naomi was trapped inside a purple bubble of magic of which she had already guessed its function.

"Who are you then?" Naomi asked from within the bubble, her voice slightly muted by the magic.

"I guess there's no point in secrets. After all, you aren't going anywhere anytime soon." Twilight said. "I know all about you and your little boyfriends. I know that you're human turned pony, yadda yadda yadda. Honestly it all sounds like a bad fan fiction."

"Still didn't answer my question." Naomi said, slightly annoyed.

"My name is Diane. I came here with two other bozos because of this creepy old guy named Discord." Diane continued. "We're human too, if you haven't already figured it out."

"Discord. Now it kind of makes sense." Naomi said. "He's using you for something."

"You guessed it." Diane said as she piled more books onto her cache.

"Why the heck would you help Discord?" Naomi said. "He's the bad guy."

"He promised us a way home, we took it. Simple as that." Diane said. "Besides, it's fun being a bad guy."

"Is that why you're stealing books? To be the "bad guy"?" Naomi said facetiously.

"Shut up. Discord said that we would need them for some really powerful spells and stuff." Diane said. "

"That still doesn't explain the whole 'you're Twilight' thing, though." Naomi said.

"Yeah, Ryan used some spell to switch souls or whatever. I can use her magic whenever I want to, even if it isn't as good, hence why you are helpless in my trap. Right now, Twilight's in my body, probably sleeping." Diane sighed. "Oh, how I envy her."

"That's really weird."

"Yeah, it really should have been Ryan that had to do this, but he had problems with 'being a girl'. Guys can be such pansies sometimes." Diane said.

"Preaching to the choir on that one." Naomi mumbled. "Well it's been fun, but it's around the time when I should break loose, knock you unconscious, and take you prisoner."

"Oh really? How're you going to do that?" Diane scoffed.

"Like this." Naomi said nonchalantly as the force field around her shimmered and disappeared. Diane's eyes widened and her jaw fell.

"How… did you…"

"You may have Twilight's body, but you sure suck at magic." Naomi said. "Thanks for the question and answer session."

"I knew this was a stupid plan to begin with." Diane said. Her horn pulsed with magic and the pile of books she had collected vanished. "Good thing I have the universal "oh shit" button."

Diane's eyes fluttered and her body went limp, causing her to fall to the ground. Naomi watched carefully over the body as she waited for it to wake up.

She waited a minute or so before Twilight stirred and began to wake. Her hoof rubbed her head as if she had a headache.

"Uhhh…" She groaned, half-awake. She turned about trying to figure out where she was and saw Naomi standing over her. "Alona? Why am I in the Archive?"

**Near Hoofington…**

Ryan napped under the shade of a particularly large tree. The nature that surrounded him was unusual, seeing as that he almost never went outdoors back home. In his dreamy state, he imagined flying through the clouds, free of worry and responsibility.

His dream came to a crashing halt as a mountain of books engulfed him. He struggled out of the thousands of pages that threatened to suffocate him. Beside him, Diane stirred and her eyes shot open.

"What happened?" Ryan asked, moving himself from under the heap.

"Shit hit he fan is what happened." Diane shot back. "The one Hero girl showed up halfway through, so I only got these."

Ryan looked over the sizeable number of books. It wasn't the entire Archive, but it was something.

"I'm gonna take a nap. Enjoy your books, egghead." Diane said.

Ryan ignored her obvious insult and focused on the titles of the books. One was never supposed to judge a book by its cover, but he honestly wasn't going to read through ever last piece of literature. He had other things to do. Like be a pony.

_Art of Transformation, huh? Jackpot. _He thought.

He read through the introduction.

"_Turn into anything you want to and more! Dazzle your friends as you change from pony to griffon and back again! Do you think the Changelings are the only ones that should shift form? No! In this simple two hundred page lecture on the magic and art of Transformation, you will learn the everything you need to walk freely amongst the peagsi, griffon, and manticore. _

"Two hundered? Hells no." Ryan muttered as he skimmed through the book to find where exactly the spell was. He reached it on page 392.

"Hey, Diane." Ryan said as he nudged Diane. "Diiiiiiaaaaaannnne."

"Leave me alone." She grumbled.

"Oh okay. I was just going to use a spell to make you human, but yeah. I guess you're loving being a pony." Ryan said.

"Human? Sign me up." Diane said with a sudden burst of uncharacteristic enthusiasm. It almost scared Ryan.

"Alright, one sec." Ryan said as he looked over the spell one more time.

_Worst-case scenario: something explodes. _Ryan thought.

Ryan concentrated on the spell just as the book instructed. After minute he had just about given up when a flash of blue light covered Diane.

"So I'm guessing it wor-whaaaa?!" Ryan exclaimed.

The spell worked just as it was supposed to, changing the specified mare into a female human. He assumed that she looked just as she had back on earth.

Minus the clothing.

I a literal blink of an eye, Diane had hidden behind the nearby tree. Ryan could feel himself turn a fierce red.

"What the hell, pervert?!" Diane yelled from behind the tree.

"I-I just…" Ryan, for the first time in his life, could not think straight. His thought were invaded by the sight of-

"Fix this, dumbass!" Diane exclaimed.

"I-I can't get the books!" Ryan stammered. "You're behind the tree they're at! You've gotta move!"

"There aren't any other trees around here, genius!"

"Well I- I mean I can't just-" Ryan stammered. "Damn it!"

Ryan rushed to the books, making sure he didn't see anything from the corner of his eye. He tried to find a book that would help, but kept finding useless topics on herbs and dragons.

"Damn it, why didn't you steal a clothes spell?!"

**A/N**

**Nice to see you all again. It's been… what, two months? Anyway, I'm not going to jinx anything. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**By the way, keep a lookout for any polls that I set up. The first will probably be the day after this chapter is posted.**

**Well, Read, Review, Favorite, and Follow!**

**\EDIT: In response to surprising and rather annoying negative reviews given to me by three individuals, (two of whom will remain anonymous and their reviews not allowed in the review section.) I have decided to give a spoiler: The whole "human" thing was for this chapter only. There will be no more of it after until possibly the conclusion.  
**

**There, Happy?  
**

**In the future I would prefer for people to wait and see what is coming in the future of the story instead of just shutting down and complaining. Please show maturity. Thank you. END EDIT /  
**

**End A/N**


	31. Those Who Wander

"Well, I've got good news and bad news," Mike said after carefully inspecting the entire Archive for what was missing or destroyed.

"Good news first, please," Naomi said. After she had extracted Mike from the apartment, Naomi had given a detailed retelling of what had transpired with Diane in the Archive.

"By sheer luck, she mostly managed to steal some of the most worthless spells in here. They took everything from magic to help gardens grow faster and to how to make brooms sweep a floor by themselves, but nothing that was really useful."

"And the bad news?" Naomi inquired.

"The girl you were fighting might have also taken half the books that I had set aside to read later on," Mike said, somewhat irritated. "Those were some of our best bets of getting the hell out of here."

"There might still be some helpful ones in the back," Naomi offered.

"Oh no no no no," Mike said quickly, his eyes filling with dread. "It is extremely dark in there. No sunlight ever seems to penetrate it."

"Stop being such a baby," Naomi laughed as she started pushing Mike towards the back.

Mike teleported back to his original space. "I'm not going back there."

"Just take a lantern or something," Naomi said.

"You don't understand," Mike said. "This isn't your average everyday darkness. It's Advanced Darkness."

"You've got to be kidding me," Naomi sighed in disbelief.

**Near Hoofington…**

After the situation had been solved accordingly, with everyone perfectly fine with their appearance, Ryan had set off to find Christopher, who had wandered off, out of the forest.

Ryan had enjoyed his new experience with nature, but now it was starting to annoy him to no end. Mosquitoes seemed to swarm by the hundreds of thousands, and the sun was repeatedly blinding him whenever there was an opening in the overlapping tree branches.

Worst of all, animals were constantly hounding him. He couldn't take three steps without a squirrel or bird coming near him.

He finally found Christopher in a clearing. A large pond was in the dead center of the clearing, the sun reflecting off the water in a beautiful, yet blinding, way.

"Christopher, we're heading out for the city." Ryan said.

"Okay," Christopher said as he peeled himself away from the scene.

Ryan had barely known the guy for a month, yet he was quickly starting to think of Chris as one of his friends. He didn't talk much, and usually only answered in two to three words. It was weird, sure, but it was a right bit better than Diane's constant name-calling and complaining.

He didn't like being called Chris, or C, or practically any name other than Christopher. Only Christopher.

And that was Ryan's vast knowledge of his partner in crime. Not exactly enough to write a biography of the guy, but enough to get things done.

After another two minutes of walking back to their 'camp', Ryan wasn't surprised to see Diane napping.

"Sleepy-time's over," Ryan said as he levitated a pile of the recently stolen books on top of Diane, waking her.

"Can't I get at least ten minutes without you cutting into my sleep?" Diane mumbled.

Ryan ignored her complaining. "We need to figure out what we do now. The books are practically worthless, and we're not any closer to 'bringing chaos to Equestria'". Ryan put emphasis on Discord's instructions.

"We're supposed to destroy things, right?" Diane said. "And just do, like, crazy stuff?"

"Yeah," Christopher answered.

"Maybe we should just do something to that city out there," Diane said as she pointed out of the forest. "We could just blow it up."

"No, we're not blowing up the city," Ryan said. "There're probably a lot of children there."

Both Christopher and Diane looked at Ryan, obviously confused, then at each other.

"Kids? Seriously?" Diane said disbelievingly.

"Shut up. We're just not going to blow the city up, okay?" Ryan asked.

Diane sighed. "What the hell do you want us to do then? We need cause chaos somewhere, somehow."

Ryan said, "We'll think of something."

**In Hoofington…**

"I swear to Celestia, Wicker, it's snowing outside," Alder said to his older brother and co-worker.

Wicker, as usual, was occupying himself with his latest design of table. Unlike Alder, he worked with his bare hooves, which in all reality was odd for a rather gifted magic user like him.

"I don't have time for your delusions, Alder," Wicker said. "First off, it's the middle of November. Second, we live in Hoofington, the warmest city in Equestria. It doesn't snow here."

"If you would just look up for one second," Alder said as he lifted his brother's head forty-five degrees towards the window.

Wicker's frustration at his brother's annoyance instantly melted to confusion as he gazed upon the snow-covered streets. Ponies were gazing up at the drifting flakes, some colts and fillies playing gleefully in the newfound snow.

"How in the world…?" Wicker said quietly to himself.

"Must...resist…urge... to play in snow," Alder said as he averted his eyes from the snowy scene. Wicker rolled his eyes.

"Did Princess Celestia skip a day?" Wicker asked. The sky was overflowing with gray clouds, blocking out most lost. "The sun isn't even shining."

As quickly as it had come, the snow suddenly stopped falling. Instead, it was replaced by puffy, white cylinders.

"Marshmallows?" Wicker said confusedly. "What the heck?"

The snow already on the ground had somehow turned into vanilla and strawberry ice cream. A few ponies began to panic as they were bombarded by marshmallows, only to slip and slide across the ice cream. One unlucky stallion skidded into a small hill of strawberry ice cream.

"Wick? We have a serious problem," Alder said as he turned to his brother.

"I hope it isn't a math problem."

Alder just sighed at his brother's response. As he was going to the door to check things out for himself, he heard a knocking.

He opened the door and was surprised to see three ponies standing at his doorstep. Surprisingly, he didn't know any of them. He hadn't had new customers in over seven months.

"Can I help you?" Alder said.

"Shut it, pal," The blue unicorn said as his horn glowed blackish-blue. Alder didn't even realize what was going on before he lost consciousness.

Wicker, still concerning himself with the wonderland of sugary sweets outside, didn't notice the three come in, let alone notice the sleep spell used on him.

"Alright. Diane, you're the one that knows what money looks like here," Ryan said as he levitated both the snoozing brothers into the broom closet. "Try to find where they're keeping it."

"Aye aye, captain," Diane said with a mock salute and a roll of the eyes.

"Christopher, um… just keep watch, okay?" Ryan said. Christopher nodded and stood at the front door.

Ryan took a second to quickly look for anything that would help them figure out what they should do next. Hoofington was chaotic, and Discord was that much closer to breaking free.

_What with the marshmallow snow, ice cream filled streets, and chocolate plumbing, ponies are probably panicking like crazy, _Ryan thought.

But they couldn't stay here forever. They needed to find somewhere where they could cause a lot more mayhem than a glorified Candy Land.

After about five minutes of searching and constantly finding papers of worthless topics, he finally stumbled on a letter near the crafting table on the far right of the room. Ryan began reading.

_To the owner(s) of Tables and Chairs Co. ,_

_I am pleased to inform you that your last shipment of tables and chairs arrived on time, and that your next shipment should be the last one. Thank you for your continued support of our grand project._

_Las Pegas looks marvelous, a beauty to admired._

_I'm sorry that your last shipment had to be rushed, but what with the intentional absence of staff and resources, we had to make sure everything was on schedule._

_It sure is a wonder that we have kept this city secret for so long. Barely anypony knows that it exists! Though it should be complete within the next two weeks, we expect it will be some time before the news spreads and new residents flock to the city._

_Again, you have my sincere gratitude._

_Iron Forge,_

_Minister of Royal Construction and Furnishings_

Ryan couldn't help but smirk.

"Hey, Diane!" Ryan called out. "Screw the money, I've found it!"

**At the Royal Castle…**

Naomi was excited. Ecstatic,really. She had completely foregone her mentor's advice of how to win at their duel and concocted her own way of victory.

Mike had given her the boring and time-consuming task of putting the books all back into place in the archive. She guessed that Mike was either too lazy to any real work or that he just wanted to get back to whatever crazy adventures were happening back at Ponyville.

Naomi had been actually rather jealous in the case of the second idea. He, being a brony, was living the dream. Yet she was stuck trying to save Equestria from being destroyed.

Near the end of her sorting, Naomi had taken a double-take at a book titled _The Complete Works of Duplication. _It hadn't taken her long to shove the rest of the books into a pile and hide them in a corner of the Archive.

The main reason why she was so happy was the reasoning that popped into her head while reading the book:

_Luna may be able to take on one of me, but what about six?_

Naomi pictured Luna's pure bafflement when she found herself defending against an army of Naomis. The spell itself wasn't especially difficult and it didn't have a charge-up time, which meant that she could use in the instant she needed to.

For the hell of it, Naomi had decided to head up to the observatory that Mike had cleared out for his own experimentation. She wanted to make sure the spell worked before using it.

With the exception of a thin layer of dust on the floor and a few books lying about, the observatory looked exactly as it had a month ago, hinting that Mike hadn't actually been working very hard while she was gone.

"I'll deal with him later," Naomi muttered as she levitated the spell book and opened to page one hundred and thirteen. "Here we go."

In the time it would take for Naomi to teleport, the duplication spell was already done. Besides a light headache and mysterious loss of eyesight, there weren't any side effects.

Naomi's vision returned gradually from pitch black to actual shapes and colors. In front of her, nonchalantly reading one of the turned over books from the floor, was another her.

Naomi giggled. She had always wanted a clone. Mostly to do her chores while she slept, but still.

She felt oddly energetic. Now that she thought about it, she didn't really understand why she had ever been lazy before in her life. Procrastinating was suddenly an odd concept.

"Hey there!" She said to the copy.

Without averting her gaze from the book, the copy raised her hoof and replied, "'Sup?"

"This is so cool! I have my own clone! I can beat Luna after all!" Naomi bounced up and down cheerily. "Heck, maybe I'll make my own softball team when I make enough clones."

"Uh-huh," the other Naomi said, not really paying attention to the original, turning the page of the book she was reading.

Naomi stopped bouncing and looked at the clone quizzically.

"Um… can you put down the book for a second?" Naomi asked.

"Busy reading it."

"I know… it's just that, uh… you're supposed to be helping me."

"With what?" the copy said, finally turning around towards Naomi.

"I don't know. Help me plan the whole fight with Luna, I guess."

"Let's not and say we did."

"It's kiiiiiind of important." the original said, starting to get slightly annoyed.

"I'm just not feeling up to it," the copy said. "Do it yourself."

"What? But you're the clone! Clones are supposed to do the work for the original."

"What makes you think you're the original?" the other said, standing up and walking over to Naomi. "Maybe I'm the original and _you're _the clone!" She pointed her hoof accusingly towards her duplicate.

"You've got to be kidding me." Naomi laughed. "Seriously, stop being lazy and help me."

"Make me." the double stuck her tongue out at Naomi.

Naomi just sighed and decided to try again with a different clone. She focused more on a duplicate that would help her actually get things done. A moment later, she saw the results of her retried spell. Naomi felt the loss of the energy she had the first time she had used the spell, and in fact, was starting to get a bit tired.

"Hey, me!" the duplicate said with a smile. "Whaddya need?"

"I was just checking to see how this duplication spell worked, so I made you," Naomi answered, yawning.

"What about me?" the first duplicate asked, annoyed. "You made me first."

"You're not exactly helpful," Naomi answered. She turned to her other clone. "I need you to help me win against Princess Luna."

"Sure thing!" the other Naomi said cheerily. "But why don't we do something else first? Like... bake a cake! Or how about we write a short story?"

Naomi was losing her patience rapidly. "No, no, no. We really just need to get this done and maybe later we could-"

"But there's so much to do! What about we just take a teeny tiny walk through the forest? Could we catch a manticore? Please?" The second duplicate asked.

Naomi was taken aback how much this duplicate was acting like Pinkie Pie. What was going on with the spell?

"Hey!" The first duplicate said. "Look. I made my _own_ clone."

"What the hell?" Naomi asked, purely flabbergasted. Were clones supposed to be able to make clones?

"Hey girls, I'm number three," the new duplicate introduced herself.

"I'm number one," the first said, shaking the third's hoof.

"I'm the second!" the remaining one said as she trotted off to the group. "She's the bossy original," she said, pointing to Naomi.

_This is getting out of hand,_ Naomi thought.

"Can I try to make a clone?" the second asked.

"Sure. The spell's in that book over there," the first replied.

"Uh-oh." Naomi said. _These clones will make clones of themselves, and those clones would make even more clones until the entire castle is filled with dozens of me!_

Before the second duplicate could get the book, Naomi had levitated it over to her and flipped to the page where the reversal spell was. She found the spell and immediately used it on the second clone.

"Hey give that back!" the second exclaimed. "It's rude to-"

The second Naomi disappeared in a puff of smoke, illiciting reactions from both number one and three.

"Hey, don't get rid of-" number three protested before vanishing.

"Can't we just-" number one followed with a similar fate.

Naomi sighed and leaned against the nearest wall, sliding slowly down it. She, oddly, enough was no longer tired and managed to stand back up after readjusting her glasses and closing the book.

"I'm not going to use _that _spell again," She said to herself. As she was gathering all the books and placing them in a stack on the table, Mike teleported into the observatory.

"Hey, the princesses need to see all of us in the throne room. Seems urgent." Mike said.

"Gotcha. I'm coming," Naomi said as she finished placing the last book on the table and promptly teleported to the throne room.

**Two Minutes Later…**

"Hoofington is now being cleared of all the ice cream and marshmallows, but the local service workers can't seem to fix the chocolate syrup plumbing," Luna said after she had informed the four friends of the recent havoc in Hoofington.

"Many ponies living there had seen a group of three constantly moving about, searching houses for something," Celestia added. "From the descriptions, they seem to be the same ponies Alona warned us about."

"Even worse news, we have good reason to believe that they have found out the location of Las Pegas," Luna said as she looked up to her sister. "They could already be on their way there."

"We had hoped that, with increased security measures, we would have kept the city a secret, but it appears to have failed. We need you to go to Las Pegas and stop these ponies before they demolish it," Celestia said. "We need you to leave today, actually. You are to catch the next train to the construction site and wait for them."

"Wait, why can't we just teleport there?" Mike asked.

"The entire city is surrounded by an invisibility spell as well as a barrier against teleportation," Luna answered. "We urge you to finish anything you have left to do before leaving. You might not be coming back."

"And one more thing," Celestia added. "Naomi will be staying here to train with Luna for a while longer. She will meet you three there in the next two days or so."

Naomi had a defeated look on her face. She had hoped that she would be able to get out of training because of the situation.

"I'll meet you inside the training room in ten minutes," Luna said to Naomi.

"Fine," Naomi huffed as she vanished.

"Good luck," Celestia said to the remaining three.

When the four were finally out of the throne room, Cameron was the first to speak up.

"Is this Las Pegas place anything like Las Vegas?" He asked.

"And the winner of the stupidest question award goes to..." Mike said as he rolled his eyes.

"You seriously just figured that out, Cam?" Jake asked.

"It was an honest question. Jeez," Cam mumbled.

**In the Stone Prison…**

Discord hadn't felt this good in a very long time. After being completely drained of all his magic and strength, the chaos caused by his three pawns was amazing. He didn't have nearly enough strength to break free, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

Unfortunately, Celestia was reacting faster than expected.

The four annoying heroes were on their way to the city of Las Pegas, and he had no way of warning his followers.

_For crying out loud, they're taking the same train! _he thought.

Discord soon began to tire of worrying and instead focused his attention solely on the power that was welling inside of him.

Soon he would reveal himself again.

Soon he would have revenge.

**A/N**

**Here it is! The next chapters are literally going to fly in, so be prepared. It gets pretty freaking exciting in the upcoming chapters, just saying. I'm not procrastinating on a single one!**

**Proofread by the awesome Dndchk! If you like Harry Potter (or just plain awesome) check out her stories. They're pretty decent, if I may say so.  
**

**Anyways, as always, Review, Read, Follow, and Favorite!**

**End A/N**


	32. As the Towers Fall

**On the train...**

"No laptop, phone, or music device. Yep. This is is going to be the best train ride ever," Cameron said facetiously as the three walked down the seemingly endless walkway to their seats. The last five cars they had gone through contained nothing but stone, clay, and large sacks of cement.

"Cheer up, Cam." Mike said, looking over to his friend. "Maybe you'll find a love interest and solve a murder."

"That _would _be pretty cool," Cameron contemplated, actually thinking over the possible scenarios where he could entertain himself by being like the hero of an action movie.

"You'd think they'd have the passenger cars closer to the actual entrance," Jake said moodily.

"You'd think you would be in a better mood now that we're close to getting home." Mike said, trying to diffuse the tension. "Once this whole thing is over, there's really nothing in the way of us finding a way home."

"Like you were supposed to be doing for the past month?" Jake said raising an eyebrow. "Or did Rarity just need you _that _much?"

"It's not like you were one to lend a helping- _oof!_" Mike responded as he walked right into an imposing brick red stallion in front of him. At first glance, Mike thought it was Big Macintosh, but the differing black mane ended the similarity. "Sorry."

"No worries. It's a narrow walkway." Said the smaller dark blue stallion accompanying him. "But you really should have watched where you were going."

"I was busy talking, sorry again." Mike said, hefting himself up from the floor.

"Well you know what they say," The blue pony said with a smile. "Don't text while- never mind."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Say, do you know how much further it is to the passenger car?" The blue pony asked, suddenly eager changing the subject.

"No. We were actually going down this way to find it, too." Jake explained. "They made this train unnecessarily long."

"Tell me about it." The blue pony rolled his eyes. He held out his hoof towards Jake. "Ry- I mean, Strife."

"Agile." Jake said, returning the hoofshake. "This is Keen and Facade."

"Nice to meet you guys. This is Lock and Clover." Strife said, motioning to his stallion and mare companions.

Oddly enough, both Cameron and Clover were staring right into each other's eyes. Strife had a confused looked while Jake and Mike facehoofed at the stereotypical scene of love.

"Hey look, Facade. Fluttershy's over there." Jake lied to his friend, trying to snap him out of his trance.

"Who?" Cameron asked before realizing what he was doing. "Oh yeah, right. What were we talking about again?"

Jake's jaw almost hit hit the floor.

"Uh, we should probably keep moving to our seats, Clover." Strife said with an uneasy smile as he turned the pink pegasus around and moved her towards the door to the next car. "Oh, would you look at that, they're right there. Well, nice meeting you guys and all."

Before any of Heroes could reply, the three ponies were already at the opposite side of the room, casually sitting there.

As they walked past them, Mike thought to himself, _Weirdos._

**At the Royal Castle Training Room...  
**

"Clones? You cannot be serious," The Princess of the Moon said to her rather annoyed apprentice.

"It seemed like a legitimate strategy." Naomi retorted. "'Two heads are better than one' or something like it."

"Alona, if that was truly the case, then why haven't you seen very many duplicate ponies roaming around?" Luna sighed and rolled her eyes. "I could use the extra help with all my royal duties."

Naomi opened her mouth as to reply, but came up with nothing. "So why didn't it work, anyway? The spell, I mean."

"The so-called 'duplication spell', created by a half-wit unicorn looking for a quick fix, doesn't make an exact replica of the user." Luna explained, bringing bitterness at the mention of the creator of the spell. "It takes a specific part of the user's personality and creates a body for it. The result is two ponies with the combined skill of the original. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"That explains a bit." Naomi said as she remembered the amalgamation of clones and their rather undesirable traits.

"But now that that is cleared up, we should really move along with our duel," Luna said, moving to the other side of the room. "Well in your case, not really fight. More like 'flailing angrily'."

Naomi shot a glare at her mentor, who returned a rather innocent look.

"Bring it on." Naomi said.

**On the Train...**

"Mind telling me what the hell that was about?" Ryan inquired to his stoic mare companion. She didn't seem to really listen to Ryan as she looked back towards where the pony Facade had walked off.

"Nothing." She replied simply, irritating Ryan even more.

"I'll admit I told you to be friendly with the stupid ponies," Ryan said, remembering his exact instructions to her and Christoper. "but you aren't supposed to get all lovey-dovey with one of them either."

"Pick your poison." Diane smirked as she still continued looking towards the other passenger car.

"Since when are you attracted to horses?" Ryan asked dumbfounded. "Am I the only one who still has control of their damned senses?"

"Someone's raging, aren't they?" Diane remarked.

"I'm in a world of technicolor ponies and I've been turned into one of them. I don't want to be here. At all." Ryan explained clearly.

"Whatever, Mr. Depressed." Diane said as she got up from her seat. "I'm going to actually enjoy myself while I'm here."

"You can't just-" Ryan began to speak before he realized that Diane was already gone that instant. "Crap, I hate it when she does that."

* * *

"Well, well. Looks like someone's lovesick," Mike said, nudging Cameron.

"Shut up, no I'm not," Cameron responded, looking towards the other passenger car.

"Cameron's in love with yet _another _pretty pony." Jake teased as well. "And you say you aren't a brony."

"I'm not in freaking love. Calm yourselves," Cameron said.

"Than what's with the googly eyes?" Mike inquired.

"Oh I get it. He's not 'in love' with another pony. He's just 'attracted' to another pony," Jake stated, earning a glare from Cameron that could freeze nitrogen.

"You guys wouldn't understand." Cameron dismissed his two friends.

"We're just messing with you, jeez." Jake said. "But really, Cam. What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I don't know. She just seems... normal." Cameron strained his vocabulary for the right word.

"Meaning what, exactly?" Mike asked.

"I don't know," Cameron sighed. "She's just not all 'happy-sunshine' like the rest of the ponies. _That_ gets annoying real quick."

"I honestly don't mind it." Jake muttered too low for anyone to hear.

"And so what are you thinking about doing with this 'normal' pony?" Mike asked, now fully interested in the topic.

"Probably nothing." Cameron admitted with yet another sigh. "It's not like she's going to go out of her way to come over here and-"

His thought process was interrupted by the sudden and much unexpected appearance of Clover.

"Hi Facade!" She said cheerily.

"You were saying?" Mike asked, but Cameron didn't seem to hear him. He once again was staring at the mare unblinking. Mike turned to Jake. "How much do you want to bet that he won't snap out of this for at least the next ten hours?"

"Ten? I'd say twenty." Jake said half-jokingly. "Cam, maybe you should- aaaaand, he's gone."

Indeed, by the time both of the two friends had looked back to Cam and his new love interest, they had already departed for areas unknown. A quick glance down both walkways of the train car revealed them to be long gone.

"By far the weirdest love story I've ever seen." Mike remarked with a smirk.

"What about yours?"

"Shut up!"

**Three Hours Later...**

Ryan was getting a little more than concerned as to the whereabouts of Diane. Granted, he didn't have feelings for her and was in no way jealous (or to that extent, not admittedly so), but he needed everyone to stick together instead of wandering about. The sooner they could coordinate their plans, the better.

_"Is this thing on? It better be working now, or so help me..." _Said a particularly familiar voice. Ryan glanced around but saw nopony talking to him.

"Huh? Who's there?" Ryan said cautiously, though he had a rather good idea of who it was.

_"Ah, there we go. I'm finally able to get some Chaos reception." _Said the lord of Chaos, Discord. "_I'm calling to inform you that you're little plans may need some tweaking."_

"What do you mean? Why are you in my head?" Ryan said irritatedly. The voice of Discord was not one Ryan looked forward to hearing every day.

"_I'm not exactly free to teleport and grace you with my presence. You know, what with being locked up and all." _Discord's disembodied voice said with the tiniest hint of malice. "_As to why I'm talking with you, the plan you have in place for destroying Las Pegas is going to need some revisement. The Heroes are actually on their way there as well. On the _same_ train as you."_

"Can you tell us who?" Ryan asked, looking over the few actual passenger on the train.

"_A unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony. Rather bland color scheme. The earth pony's kind of irritating." _Discord listed off his qualitative observations of the Heroes.

"I think I've seen them, yeah," Ryan said. Ponies were starting to look back towards where he and Christopher were sitting, trying to find out who was talking to themselves. Ryan tried to look as nonchalant as possible and kept his voice down. "Diane's chasing one of them around right about now, I think."

"_Oh wonderful. Nothing more Chaotic than a failed romance. Tell her to keep up the good work." _Discord said. "_I think you can handle it from here. I hope I need not remind you that if this doesn't work out, you're not getting back home any time soon. Have fun with that little thought."_

With an fairly audible CLICK, Discord's presence faded from Ryan's mind.

"Now we really need to know where Diane is." Ryan said, looking through the window towards the sunset off in the horizon. "We'll be there any minute now."

* * *

"So why are you going to Las Pegas, Clover?" Facade asked, as they stood at the end rails of the caboose. The sun had set only just ten minutes befroe, but still left it's hues of orange and red in the sky. "What's with those other two stallions?"

"We're supposed to do some... reconstruction." Diane did her best to cover the flat out lie. "We'll only be there for a day or so, I think."

"I didn't peg you as the kind of pony that particularly enjoyed manual labor," Facade said. "But I guess with that one big pony, you have to be doing some tough work."

"Trust me, it's not one of my first choices." Diane responded. "What about you? Traveling circus, I'm guessing."

"Ha ha. Very funny," Facade said sarcastically. "We're just supposed to meet up with some ponies, actually. We have to make sure they don't do something really bad."

"Why do you have to stop them? What are they going to do?" Diane asked, thoroughly curious.

"Just something that'll keep my friends and I from getting back home." Facade said with a sigh. "It's a long story."

Suddenly, the two felt the train begin to decelerate as it approached the very well lit station. The city behind it stood with much of the might and light of the real Las Vegas back on Earth. Buildings were not quite as high as its real counterpart, yet one could see the resemblances between the two thoroughly modern cities. It's full size was roughly comparable to Canterlot.

The door of the the caboose opened to reveal a slightly more than annoyed Ryan.

"Time to get moving, Clover. The sooner, the better,"Ryan said, glaring at Facade.

"I'm moving, I'm moving." Diane grumbled. "It was nice to meet you, Facade."

"Nice meeting you too." Facade managed to say as the door into the train closed shut.

* * *

Cameron headed towards his passenger car, somewhat bummed out about suddenly losing his new love interest. He, however, managed to remind himself that Clover was just a pony from a cartoon meant for little girls. Any feelings he might have for a pony would sooner or later be repressed and forgotten when he left Equestria.

However, for reasons similar to how he felt about Fluttershy, he couldn't shake the feeling that he wouldn't really forget about them when he left. It disturbed him to his very core.

He found both Jake and Mike ready to disembark from the train, waiting for him.

"So, how was your train ride?" Mike quipped.

"It was fine, now lets just go." Cameron huffed as he moved towards the exit of the train. Both Jake and Mike exchanged smirks before following suit.

The train station was considerably larger than the on they had been in Canterlot. Unlike most of the other passengers, who were mostly construction workers or simply part of the building project, the three friends stood where they were, trying to find where exactly they were supposed to go.

Cameron's eyes wandered around until he saw a familiar, and rather unexpected, sight.

"Hey, guys." Said Naomi evenly, laying down on one of the terminal seats, reading a copy of a newspaper titled "Equestria Daily".

"Wait, what?" Mike said, putting what each of them were thinking into words. "You're supposed to be at-"

"The castle? I was." Naomi replied. "I just finished my training with Luna two hours ago. Your train took a _ long _time."

"How could you finish training in an hour? Luna said it would take at least a few days!" Mike attempted to comprehend what was going on.

"Well, turns out, I'm awesome." Naomi said, standing back up on all fours. She now was astonishingly taller than when they last met. She was easily a head taller than Cameron, who found it very awkward to look up to Naomi.

"Why are you so tall?" Jake said, eyes wide.

"Well, it turns out that after I finished my first exercise with Luna, she used some spell on me that-" Naomi started saying before she abruptly stopped speaking and stared behind the three boys. Her disapproving glare prompting the tree to look there as well.

The only ponies behind them were the ones they had met while trying to find their way to their seats.

"What are you staring at?" Jake asked Naomi.

"Guys, those are the ponies who destroyed Equestria when I went to the future." Naomi explained. "They're the ones who'll destroy Las Pegas too."

Both Strife and Clover took notice to the unwanted attention from the group and in a blue flash had already teleported to an unknown location.

"Wait, you mean Clover is- but she-" Cameron stammered.

"Just don't think about it, Cam. We need to find them, now!" Mike stated the obvious. "The city's big, but we have to find them sooner or later."

"Split up!" Naomi directed before teleporting to another part of the city, and Mike followed suit. Jake took to the sky, hoping to find them somewhere in the streets. This left Cameron all by himself, without a quick way to move around.

"I'm starting to think that my powers are the least useful out of everyone's." Cameron muttered to himself as he rushed down the nearest open street.

* * *

Ryan's teleportation spell went without a hitch and the three we're now located, hopefully, near the opposite end of the city. As discussed, they were to start laying waste to the city right around that time. At the moment, they were near something comparable to a half-finished hotel/casino on would find back on Earth, but its true purpose was unknown.

However, this didn't really matter to Christopher as he bucked the east wall in on itself. The building, though it looked particularly sturdy, crumpled without its base support, sending chunks of stone and dust in all directions.

"One down." Ryan made a mental note of their first hit of the day before examining the street for other potential demolition sites. As he looked down the street, he saw the pegasus pony he had met on the train.

"Y'all aren't very good at being discrete, are you?" Jake asked the three anti-heroes.

"And you're not very smart, are you?" Ryan replied. "It's three against one and your buddies aren't anywhere near here."

"They'll be here soon. In the meantime I guess I'll just keep stalling you." Jake said. "So, what's your favorite color?"

"Blue." Ryan answered evenly before demolishing a building adjacent to Jake with his magic. "You're not good at stalling either, I'm afraid."

This comment was enough to get Jake onto the offensive. In a fraction of a second, his hoof was already performing a painful uppercut on Ryan, sending him spiraling many meters away. Ryan coughed in pain as he got up.

What Jake hadn't been ready for was a buck in his center at a blinding speed that rivaled his. He landed on his feet, a rather sharp pain slowly fading in his ribs. The attacker was the pink pegasus, Diane.

In a blink of an eye, Diane had vanished from his field of vision. Before he could react, a hoof connected with the back of his head, sending him to the ground. Diane stood triumphantly over him.

"By the way, I can teleport. Thanks for playing." Diane said. Jake regained his composure and sprang up from the ground away from the mare.

"I call hacks." Jake said, rubbing the back of head as if to reduce the pain.

In a flash of crimson red light, Mike appeared directly in front of Diane, a smirk firmly planted on his face. His horn pulsed with a red aura for a moment before creating a tremendous shock wave that sent Diane sliding across the ground.

"Guess what. I can too." Mike said as Jake moved quickly to his side.

"Took you long enough." Said Jake.

"It took me a little bit to actually figure out where that earthquake came from, sue me." Mike retorted, ducking under a blue-black beam of magic. The towering red figure that was Christopher's front-right hoof came dangerously close to Jake's head. Luckily, he evaded and Christopher's swing completely annihilating the building behind the two.

Before Christopher could try for a rebound hit, Cameron came seemingly out of nowhere with a headbutt to Christopher's exposed side, sending him through recently created hill of debris.

"Well, it looks like we have the whole gang of losers, huh?" Diane jeered as the rest of the anti-heroes formed up to take on the heroes. "Minus that one chick, though."

"You can end this right now." Mike said, unexpectedly diplomatic. "You don't have to fight us. We can work together to leave Equestria, you know. You don't have to take the evil route."

"Sorry, but this is the only sure-fire way." Ryan dismissed the offer. "Nice knowing you."

_**Enough.** _

All six of the humans-turned-ponies looked around confusedly at where the thunderous voice had come from.

**_So this is where he hid you... a very intelligent choice. The absolute last realm I would have searched. But now, finally, this game of hide-and-seek is finished._**

The six didn't know how to respond as the street they were just standing in was replaced by the black void that the heroes had come to associate with Keeper's void.

However, instead of a sharply dressed British gentleman, they were met with a young man adorned in a simple grey sweater and blue jeans. His brown hair was combed neatly to its side and his hazel eyes shone with a spark of youth and passion. However, besides this rather calm apparel, the man was obviously displeased. His anger seemed to radiate of him, filling the room with a hatred so base, it made many of the humans wish to vomit.

"And so these are the ones Keeper tried so hard to keep from me. Plus a few additions, I see, but this is no problem." The man said in a rather deadpan tone. "I must admit, I am a little disappointed. I expected much tougher-looking specimens, but not everything is as it should seem, apparently."

"I have absolutely no idea idea what's going on anymore." Ryan sighed explosively.

"Join the club, we have jackets." Mike retorted.

"Silence!" The mysterious man said with enough malice to cut through steel. "You three additions are not required at the moment. I will deal with you later."

With a snap of his fingers, the three anti-heroes vanished from the area, nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on?" Jake asked, now somewhat scared of the situation they were in. "What are you doing?"

"Your mother." The man replied with a smile. "But in all seriousness, It will be explained in due course. At the moment we are waiting for our dear Keeper to arrive."

The possibly malevolent being snapped his fingers once more, this time bringing another into the void which they occupied, Keeper. His eyes grew wide when he saw the man and the ponies.

"Watcher, milord!" Keeper said with an obviously faked calm tone. "I was not expecting your audience so soon."

"You sly bastard." Keeper's superior said through clenched teeth. "You still will not fess up to your folly, your crime, even in the face of all the evidence. You insult my intelligence greatly."

Keeper stood silently, at a loss for words.

"Keeper, what's the hell's going on?" Cameron asked.

"Yes, Keeper. Tell them what is happening. Tell them of your futile effort." Watcher encouraged. "I'm interested in hearing what lies you've fed to them."

Keeper took off his bowler hat and cast it aside, along with his monocle and walking cane. He suddenly looked very pitiful. He sighed before saying, "There is more to your journey than you know."

"'Journey' he calls it." Watcher scoffed, shaking his head.

"Remember when I told you that being taken from your world was part of your destiny? How I said I had placed you here against my will?" Keeper asked for reassurance. "I, well, I... I lied."

"The understatement of the millennium." Watcher commented.

"You see, I have a job to create the universe as the destiny created by Watcher wills it to be. I did not lie to you about that. However, I broke the rule of having to follow Watcher's will." Keeper explained.

"He fooled countless numbers of my workers, including Way, the lord of time, into believing that this was actually my will that was to be done. He told them that I _sanctioned _this." Watcher said with growing annoyance. "I haven't done a quality inspection in centuries, and I was lucky to actually do so and find out this coup."

"Your destinies actually had you planned for overthrowing Watcher and ending his careless rein." Keeper said, putting emphasis on the word careless.

"A destiny that I personally would not stand for. I immediately had it changed so that you would lead normal lives on your planet without harm." Watcher said.

"Liar! You would have them killed rather than risk the possibility of them destroying what you built."

"So what if I did, eh?" Watcher asked rhetorically. "I am supreme. My words are the laws of the universe. You were a fool to think that you could accomplish this."

"And this is why I lied to you." Keeper said, turning back to the boys. "There are no real 'heroes'. No righteous and glorious destiny that awaited you to complete. No endgame."

"Why'd you do this for us?" Mike asked, remaining silent no longer.

"You? This wasn't just for you." Keeper said. "It was for the hope that you would end Watcher and his power."

"I think the time for words is over." Watcher said quietly, almost like a whisper. "It is time to finish what should have been started long ago."

"What are you going to do with us?" Jake asked, fearful of the very real possibility of death.

"I wish for Keeper to see how futile his efforts were. I wish to teach him a lesson he will never forget again." Watcher said. "I have already rounded up that girl called Naomi. I have erased her memories and replaced them ones of a princess of ponies. Sh will have memories dating back to the creation of the land 'Equestria'. She will remember herself as a sister to both 'diarchs' of the son and idiotic life to live, If I may say so, but that's what makes it _so_ funny."

"But that means-" Mike started, comprehending what was going to happen.

"Yes. I will spare your lives, and the lives of those additions you three came with, in order to replace your memories. This way, my throne is secured, Keeper is humiliated, and I can laugh triumphantly as you live lives that are not yours, never really knowing what you were before."

"Keeper! Help!" Jake exclaimed.

_**"****Enough. Sleep now, and forget."**_

_**"This is a dream that you will never wake from."**_

_**"A nightmare disguised as paradise."**_

_**"You will never wake up from this dream."**_

_**"Until the end."**_

_**"Dream."**_

* * *

**[A/N]**

**Sup, everypony! A long time in making, but chapter 32 is here! **

**What? Is the story over?**

**HELL NO!  
**

**This would be the most unsatisfying ending ever if it ended here! I still plan on bringing out Part Three in no time at all!  
**

**Announcement: I'm coming out with a new story within the next two months or so! Yay! However, I need a test audience to read the first two chapters and do quality insurance as well as tell me if I should go through with it or not! Fifteen spots will be open, so PM me quick! I WILL NOT ACCEPT REQUESTS VIA REVIEW. PM me if you are interested!  
**

**Anyway, thank you all for reading all the way up to the end of Part Two of my story! It will only get better from here!**

**Review, Favorite, Follow, and Read!**

**Peace off.**

**[End A/N]**


	33. What is going on, anyway?

Watcher hummed quietly to himself as he walked across the large walkway the spread across the pony world called "Equestria". He had created this particular walkway in the effort to watch the fruits of his labor grow. It wasn't often that he paid so much attention to a civilization, his last time being the height of the Roman Empire back on the human world of Earth.

He was usually much more passive in his observations, however at that moment he couldn't help but walk briskly across the sandstone tiles. He had made sure that everything had gone his way this time, as it usually did. The three boys had been sent back to their town of Ponyville, memories altered so that they knew themselves only as the residents knew them.

The three additions had been sent across the world, each one at a different location best suited to their preferred settings. Their memories had also been altered, but so were their personalities. Watcher had pity on them, knowing full well that they were brought against their will by an unknown entity. True, the three boys had been in a similar situation, but the three additions were of no threat to his mantle.

Keeper's meddling had been bothersome, perhaps even traitorous. This would warrant many reprimands for any other malevolent being, but not with Watcher for reasons purely his own. He would forgive, forget, and hope that Keeper would do the same in time.

Watcher neared his desired destination which was situated directly over the town of Ponyville. Much to his surprise, Keeper was there as well, leaning over the rails. By the look of his attire, now consisting of only a drab gray shirt and jeans, Watcher guessed that his architect was depressed.

"I would have thought that you would be at the Citadel. Are you neglecting your duties, Keeper?" Watcher inquired.

"There are others that can fill in for me for the time being. I felt that I needed a break today," Keeper answered, still staring down at the surface.

Watcher scoffed. "Still going on about those three, eh? It's been a week, Keeper. I'm obviously not changing my decision."

"I wouldn't expect you to," Keeper sighed. "but that does not mean I am unable to protest it."

"You will drive yourself mad with this, Keeper. I would advise you to let them go."

"I will not."

"Even after the disparity of their situation?"

"Indeed, even at that."

"Then you are a fool."

"I care not for your insults."

"Then heed my warning, as it will come only once. If you can not pry yourself from this foolish protest against me, I shall find another to take your place."

Keeper did not reply, merely staring at Watcher in the eyes without blinking. Watcher sighed at his architect.

"What would you propose I do? Make a deal with me."

"Let the seven leave and live, without the threat of you dooming them to a horrible existence."

"I said make a deal, not demands." Watcher said coldly.

Keeper did not break his firm glare, actually causing Watcher some discomfort.

"Then what about a game? A bet to decide what happens to them?"

Watcher contemplated this for a moment, deciding whether or not to humor Keeper. "Explain this game."

"I request that I be allowed to give one of the three boys back their memories. They would have one standard year to overthrow your puppet government of Equestria. You would have the full right to deal with them indirectly during this time through the pony rulers, but no further influence than that. After I give one of them their memories, I would not be able to interfere at all with their objective. If either of us step out of our limitations, the other wins. In the event that the three do not complete their quest, you may do with them as you wish. I will not protest. I will not interfere. But if they win, you will lose your mantle of power and allow them to live."

"And why would I agree to this?" Watcher raised an eyebrow.

"Because if you do not, you will be deprived of one of the most entertaining destinies of your long life."

Watcher began to chuckle softly, not in belittlement, but in pride.

"I will take you up on this challenge, Keeper! I will give you the year you require as well as the authority to give back _one _of the three's memories. I, in turn, will honor these restrictions. As will you."

Keeper smiled for the first time in days, snapping his fingers. His clothing changed back to his normal classy wear of suit and bowler hat. He adjusted his monocle back onto his left eye.

"Thank you, sir," Keeper bowed slightly, taking off his hat.

"Do not thank me yet, architect. Soon enough, you will see that I can not be beaten at anything. I will only humor you to prove this point as well as have a laugh from it as well."

Keeper placed his hat back on his head and shrugged. "I don't quite fear you in this, Watcher. I am the eternal optimist, after all."

Keeper vanished from the walkway without another word, leaving Watcher to still chuckle slightly at the man's determination.

**In the Carousel Boutique...**

Keen went about his business around the shop as he usually did. His job at the boutique was extremely simple for a unicorn of his particular talent. Gem cloning, gem resizing, gem recoloring, the list was endless. His cutie mark had come to him at an early age, and its meaning was clear to many. A large circular-cut ruby, perfect in every dimension, showed his finesse with precious crystals.

Back in Fillydelphia, he had been employed at a rather small jewelery shop. The stock was very limited, and business was scarce most of the year. It was no surprise when the shop finally closed eight months ago and took his salary with it. Keen, along with his two foalhood friends Agile and Facade, went around Equestria trying to find themselves new jobs that they really wanted.

It had been sheer luck that Agile and Facade had stumbled upon Ponyville while Keen had been in Hoofington looking into a position at another jewelers. It was even luckier that he had found not only the perfect job for himself, but also a new mare friend.

Life was indeed the best he could hope for and showed no sign that it was going to decline in the near future.

The ring of the entrance to the boutique broke Keen from his daydreams and thoughts. With Rarity out of town, he was left to manage the store alone. He trotted back to front of the shop to greet the customer.

"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique. Do you need some new fashionable clothing by the lovely Miss Rarity?" He asked the gray earth pony that stood near the door.

"Erm, no, actually," The pony replied. "I need to speak with you in private."

"Um, I don't exactly know you, sir. You might be looking for a different unicorn," Keen suggested with a scoff.

"No, I'm quite sure it is you that I need," The strange pony said, moving close towards Keen.

"I don't think you-" Keen began to say before he started feeling lightheaded. His sight became blurry, yet the pony remained perfectly clear.

"Forgive me for your confusion. It is only natural," the stallion said. "but I need to get to the point quickly."

Keen found that he couldn't speak, let alone think straight.

"Watcher did quite a number on you. Ego and superego are still somewhat the same, but the memories are so articulate. He could not have... he did. All the way back to childhood," The strange pony sighed. "Clever man. It will not be easy to fix this with my limited actions. I can only hope that the memories will settle and take hold once more in time."

Keen felt something similar to a splitting headache begin to form, but he couldn't feel any pain from it.

"Yes, the memories will settle soon enough. Now listen closely, Michael. Once your memories come fully back to you, you must seek out Cameron and Jacob. You have the ability to give their memories back to them, and you must relay the mission I am about to give you. You three must overthrow the pony princesses of Equestria. Regardless of your feelings of the matter, this is the only way you all will make it out of this world with your minds intact. No destruction is necessary, only the removal of the pony princesses from their thrones."

Keen could barely even comprehend the pony's words and he flt himself drifting to unconsciousness.

"It's a shame I can't do more, but my time here is limited." The pony's drifting voice said. "You have lived long enough in this dream. Now wake up."

* * *

_~~Keen was back in Fillydelphia, running around with all the neighborhood foals around town. He couldn't remember what game they were playing. Tag? That was probably right. Yes, most definitely tag. And he was "it". He looked frantically around to see where the closest victim could be..._

_Keen was now somewhere else. He couldn't remember the name of the place, but it was familiar for some reason. He was moving down the street with two creatures... humans? He couldn't remember their names, but that didn't stop him from asking the one to his right for a piece of gum..._

_He was back in Ponyville. Agile and Facade were in a room with him, but he didn't know what room it was. Now he remembered. It looked like his apartment, beds lined up against the walls. Something was wrong. He didn't know what it was, but there was something wrong with the way the two of his friends talked. They were different somehow. But they were perfectly normal at the same time. _

_"Cameron, how stupid do you think we are?" Keen heard himself say, but he never said it._

_"This is the third time with the Poison Joke. You're too predictable," Agile said. "I mean, really? In our pillows?"_

_"You're just jealous that you didn't think of it first," Facade said, but he was addressed as Cameron._

_"You're an idiot," Keen said.~~_

* * *

_Idiot._

Idiot.

"Idiot..." Keen muttered groggily as he lay stretched across the floor. His dream-packed slumber was cut short by the pulsing headache that he had felt earlier while conscious. His mind was cluttered with images that were either foreign to him or made absolutely no sense. He tried to focus himself, shaking his head in order to get his blood flowing and brain cleared.

He stood himself back up, looking around the room to see whether or not the gray stallion was still there. Keen assumed by the vacant room that he had already left. He winced in pain as the headache rebounded with full force.

_~~ Keen was somewhere made of purely nothing. The human in front of him and his friends took off his hat._

_"I, well I... lied." the man said sorrowfully. Keen started to become confused a bit angry, but he didn't know why. He knew he was in danger, though. Someone was trying to hurt him and his friends. He had been deceived and now he was going to die for reasons he didn't know of._

_If only he hadn't been so gullible. If only he had seen through the obvious lie the gray man told, he wouldn't be in danger. He felt stupid and ashamed.~~_

Keen put his hoof to his head as the pain began to subside. He had no clue as to what was going on, but knew that the stallion he had met earlier was responsible for it. The headache, strangely, had dulled to the point where Keen could only barely feel it. He kept his mind focused and stood back up from the floor.

He knew that if he couldn't get the mysterious pony to reverse his magic, he would have to find somepony else that could help him. He clutched at his head once more before going through the front doors. The sun outside was no longer in its noon position, which indicated to Keen that he had been out for more than a couple of minutes.

"Keen! Where've you been? We were supposed to go see Facade three hours ago!" Agile landed right in front of Keen looking rather miffed. Keen tried to think of the words that would explain what had happened, but couldn't think of any.

_~... cyclone cutie mark? ...Jake's ability is being a show-off... makes sense...~ _

_Wait, what did I just think? Who in the hay is "Jake"?_

"Agile, some wierd pony came into the shop... he, I mean... I don't know what he did, but-" Keen started rambling, trying to get the idea across.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow it down a bit, will you?" Agile said, surprised at the sudden flurry of incoherent words. "Who did _what_ do you?"

_~A pony... me crashing to the floor... have a headache.~_

"Somepony used some kind of spell on me back in the boutique and knocked me out. I don't know why," Keen explained.

"Was it a burglar? Was anything stolen?" Agile asked worriedly.

_~I'm suffering from delusions... voice in my head... your worried about clothing?! So thoughtful of you...~_

_Shut up!  
_

"No, nothing was stolen, but I have a splitting headache now. I think I need to see a doctor," Keen said in a huff, feeling the headache coming back slowly.

_~And a psychiatrist.~_

"You should go see Twilight Sparkle about this. If this was because of magic, she'll know what to do," Agile offered. "Here, I'll help you over there."

_~Thanks, Jake.~_

"Thanks, Agile." Keen said to his friend.

Suddenly, Keen felt himself get very weak again in his legs, followed by the sudden lightheaded feeling he had experienced earlier. He swayed lightly from side to side before collapsing.

* * *

_~~"Where the hell is Naomi?" Keen heard himself say moodily. "It's been over a week, now."_

_"Do you think see found a way to leave and just left us?" Facade asked. _

_"She wouldn't do that, Cam. She's better than that." Agile reassured his friend._

_Keen was extremely confused. He knew his friends, spent most of his life with them, yet they never had this conversation. They certainly didn't refer to themselves by any nicknames like "Cameron" or "Jake". This obviously had to be a dream or some kind of hallucination. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but think that this hallucination was too vivid to be so.  
_

_"We met her a week ago. What makes you think we could trust her not to leave us behind?" Facade said with growing irritation._

_"Call it a leap of faith," Keen heard himself say, placing a reassuring hoof on Facade's shoulder.~~_

* * *

"Look, he's coming around," Keen heard Agile say as he slowly became aware of his surroundings again. "Keen, buddy? Snap out of it. We're at the Library."

"Wuzzat?" Keen barely had the consciousness to speak and the words flowed like a gravel road.

"It looks like Keen's had some sort of memory spell done on him, but it's not like anything in the book," Twilight Sparkle spoke from a distance, a book being closed loudly and put away. "You should take him to a real doctor."

"But you know everything about magic! If you cant help, how could some doctor?" Agile said worriedly.

"They might have experience with something like this."

"And if they don't?"

"Well... I _could _send a letter to Princess Celestia if it comes to-"

"No, don't do that!" Keen exclaimed, without having thought about it or having willed his mouth to move.

The two ponies looked surprised at the suddenly boisterous spell victim.

"Wait, why not?" Agile asked.

"I... I don't know. I just- I mean... I can't think clearly." Keen responded, hooves finding there place back on top of his head in response to the rebounding headache.

"Is your head hurting again?" Twilight asked.

_~My brain cells feel like they're committing suicide!~_

"Yes." Keen gasped, his head reeling.

"I'll get him to the hospital," Twilight assured.

"Just hold on, Keen." Agile said.

_~My name's Mike, dammit...~_

* * *

"Where am I?" Keen thought out loud. This wasn't like his other hallucinations from earlier. He could actually think clearly and control what he said. The only disconcerting thing that he could see was that he wasn't exactly sure where he was.

It looked like a small room, but lacked any real color to it. It was very strange to simply look around.

"'Sup?" A human appeared at the other side of the room, walking closer to the center. In any other situation, Keen may have stopped and examine the creature a bit more before exchanging words, but he had the faint idea that this was someone he knew.

"Who are you?" Keen asked carefully.

"I'm you, if that makes any sense," The human said. "First off, I want to clarify that our name isn't Keen. It's Mike. You got it? Mike. I'm getting sick of the name 'Keen'."

"Like heck it is. You're not me. You're a human." Keen said defiantly. "Besides, Keen is an awesome name."

"Look, buddy. This is my mind you're inhabiting. What I say goes."

"You're just some freaky psyche fragment from that spell. I'm hallucinating again."

"This isn't some dream, pal."

"That's exactly what a psyche fragment would say!"

"You're the one that's taken over my body."

"Yeah, right."

Mike sighed explosively at the conversation's obvious uphill battle. He paced around the room, muttering to himself.

"What's your special talent, Keen?" The human suddenly asked.

"Jeweler, why?"

Mike clapped his hands together and fistpumped, much to the bewilderment of Keen.

"Let me make you a deal, Keen."

"No chance."

"No no no, hear me out," Mike said, now for some reason very diplomatic. "Your magic is limited to things that work with gems and stuff, right?"

"Yeah."

"I know for a fact that you can do any other kind of magic. Hell, every kind of magic," Mike stated giddily.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but no. I can't." Keen replied irritatedly.

"Just try to, please?" Mike asked. "If you can't do it, then you are really the real one of us."

"And if, hypothetically, I can?"

"Then, if my limited knowledge on psychology is correct, the barrier between our memories should break." Mike answered.

Keen simply stared at the person in front of him.

"You're crazy."

"Touche."

* * *

"He's regaining consciousness," came the voice of what Keen assumed was a doctor. "Try not to overexcite him, though."

"Will do, Doc." Facade said off in the distance. He heard the sound of a door closing and then hoofsteps coming towards him.

Keen's tries at a verbal greeting came out as a slurred mess of sounds.

"I _think _he's happy to see us." Agile said with some uncertainty.

Keen nodded at the statement.

"It looks like you're the victim of a new kind of spell and or disease, Keen. Good job, by the way." Facade tried to cheer Keen up.

_~Can't trust the other... not the real... a liar!~_

_What are you talking about?_

"Rarity is coming over soon to check up on you, but she's pretty busy in Canterlot," Agile informed.

"We'll just keep you company until she gets here. It's not like any of us had anything important to do," Facade said sourly and shot a glare at Agile.

"I think our ill friend is just a little more important than some cakes," Agile responded dryly.

_Who's a liar?_

_~The other... me... just listen to me... memories... freaking cutting off every two seconds... annoying.~_

"You okay, Keen?" Facade asked.

_~NO!~_

"NO!" Keen suddenly exclaimed. "I'm trying to listen to the voice in my head, so keep it down!"

His two friends backed away quickly, both surprised and confused at Keen's sudden burst of energy.

"You think he's still loopy from that medicine the doc gave him?" Facade whispered to Agile.

"Oh yeah," Agile replied.

Keen tried to ignore the conversation happening behind his back to focus on coaxing the voice in his head to speak again.

_Hey, person in my head, what's going on? _Keen thought, trying to get in touch with whoever was trying to talk to him.

_~Testing, one two three. There we go, finally. 'Sup, my alter ego?~_

_This is getting ridiculous, what do you want?_

_~Oh, nothing in particular. I just want my _freaking body back.~

_We talked about this a minute ago. You remember that conversation?_

_~That wasn't me. I'd explain, but mending my mind back together will probably make sure I don't need to.~_

_What in the name of Celestia are you talking about? _

_~Just think about something else for the next thirty seconds or so while I give you back all my memories.~_

_What the hay does that even mean?_ Keen pondered as the presence in his mind suddenly vanished. His headache finally left, an unbelievable relief to Keen. A sudden wave of tiredness fell upon him, his eyes quickly becoming difficult to keep open. He felt as if he could sleep anywhere.

So he did so. Right on the cold hospital floor.

* * *

When Keen woke up, he wasn't in the hospital room anymore, but instead where he had been taken when he had encountered his human self. But things were different now from the last time. Keen now remembered everything that _actually _happened in the past few months. Keeper, Watcher, Naomi, everything.

He wasn't Keen anymore, he was finally Mike again.

"I'm back, baby!" Mike hoofpumped. Fusing the memories of his and Keen's had worked in the same way he had done the fusion spell in the past. He was whole again, but with the additions of memory from Keen.

To Mike, it was kind of like he had lived two separate lives.

"Hey, person in my head, get out here." Mike ordered at the empty room.

A duplicate of his human self appeared from the far side of the room, looking rather surprised that Mike was int the room.

"Did you already figure out that I'm telling the truth? Will you give me back my mind willingly?" The clone asked.

"Oh, shut up. Whatever you are, you aren't me," Mike replied with malice.

"What do you-" The fake Mike's eyes narrowed at Mike. "You fixed your broken mind yourself, then. I was too late."

"Yeah, so now you can cut out this charade. Who the hell are you?" Mike asked.

"Keeper was quicker than I expected, then." The duplicate said, his figure becoming more ghostly. "He is better at this match than I anticipated."

"Wait. Don't tell me. You're..." Mike prompted the fake version to finish the sentence.

The duplicate Mike faded from the room and was replaced by what Mike knew to be Watcher. A smirk planted firmly on his face, the creator of destiny did not seem phased in the least that Mike had discovered his true identity.

"Bravo, by the way. I was almost sure that you would just go along with whatever I said. I _am_ pretty persuasive," Watcher clapped slowly as he paced from left to right. "But you seem to be more intelligent than Keeper let on. Sly devil."

"So your plan was to make it seem like you were me. Then what?" Mike inquired.

"I _was _planning to cut the game short by basically destroying your mind and with it Keeper's only chance of saving you and your acquaintances, but that plan is shot," Watcher sighed.

"I've been meaning to ask about that game of yours. Jake, Cameron, and I are supposed to remove the Princesses from their throne, right? What will that accomplish?" Mike asked.

"Well, for starters, it will be immensely interesting to watch you three try to defeat the Princesses without killing them. Unless, of course, you do decide to kill them in which case I still win," Watcher smiled. "Even better, I get to watch you and your friends be hunted like wanted criminals."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I didn't tell you? Oh my, I _am _getting old." Watcher laughed softly. "I'm bending the Princesses minds to my will. Simple suggestions from me become their own thoughts. Their thoughts become their actions. And right now? I've suggested that you are a wanted criminal for the destruction of their city of Las Pegas."

Mike's mouth fell agape.

"It really is going to be a fun game. You have absolutely no idea." Watcher continued.

"Isn't that cheating? I mean that's a really big advantage, don't you think?" Mike inquired, trying to scrape together as much information as possible.

"Not really. I'm not forcing the Princesses to do anything. Nor am I creating any kind of obstacles between you and them. They are acting on their own free will." Watcher said. "You think they will catch you three first? Or will you simply drive yourselves insane trying to come up with a way to not kill them?"

"And what makes you think we won't kill them?" Mike bluffed.

"Because I know you. And your friends. None of you will bring yourselves to that. That is why I will win." Watcher said. "But now I think that I've explained enough. It is time for me to move on to my next scheme."

Watcher snapped his fingers and a dark doorway appeared behind him.

"Wait!" Mike ordered before Watcher could leave through the doorway. "When we first saw you, you told us you were going to make Naomi one of the Princesses. Does that mean we have to...?"

Watcher laughed heartily as he left the room. "Yes. Isn't that fun?"

* * *

**In the hospital waiting room...  
**

Waiting in hospitals was not something Agile was fond of doing. Just being inside of the building made Agile uneasy. Perhaps it wasn't too late for him to join Facade at Sugarcube Corner while they waited for Keen to regain his sanity.

He immediately squelched the thought. He wouldn't leave his friend when he was terribly ill. He had nothing else to do, anyway.

As he absentmindedly flipped through a few pages of a forgotten newspaper, he heard some commotion come from inside the patient hallway. A stallion yelled something that Agile couldn't make out as well as objects clattering on the floor.

Suddenly, the doors to the hallway burst open to reveal Keen who was frantically looking around the room until he spotted Agile.

"Keen?! What are you-?" Agile began before being cut off by Keen.

"Where's Cam- I mean Facade?" Keen asked, breathing heavily.

"What- he left earlier, but-" Agile answered, provoking a loud sigh from Keen.

"I don't have time for this. Jake, your coming with me," Keen said, his horn glowing bright red.

"What're you-?" Agile said before Keen's sleep spell took effect, his limp body being levitated by Keen.

"You'll thank me later, Jake." Keen said as he teleported away from the hospital.

**[A/N]**

**I'm sorry!**

**So sorry!**

**It is surprisingly hard alternating between two stories! **

**Anyway, if you forgive me, I devote all my writing to the next chapter to make it come out quicker. No jinxing this time!**

**Thank you so much for your continued support. I think I really need to say that more often.**

**I've given up on my other story! This is where I should really stay! I didn't have fun writing it and I don't think mny people thought it was very good. So, you know.**

**Please R&R, favorite, and follow!**

**[End A/N]**


End file.
